Bittersweet Bouquet

Taking some recent photos of our garden plants reminded me of something that happened this spring...we had been given six tiny little tomato plant sprigs by a friend from church.  The kids and I watched them grow in our windowsill, water, fed and just babied these little plants for weeks.  

Then, Taylor and I literally spent an entire morning replanting them into little pots.  (If you have ever done a project with a two year old, you know just how LONG it can take!)  It was a fun little project for us to do together!

Over the next couple weeks, Blake watered them everyday and we watched them grow...until...a huge wind storm came blowing in, wrecking havoc on our poor little plants, so the kids hustle around, making trips to carry each pot inside, to "save" them from the storm...they worked hard to protect their little plants!  The wind continued to blow outside like crazy and our evening went on...I got dinner ready and as we sat down, I hear Taylor's little happy voice exclaim, " Mommy, for you!!"  As I turn to see what she had for me, I see her big beaming smile and then...I see...a fresh-picked bouquet of 6 tiny tomato sprigs, roots dangling.  I felt my face change from happy to  "OH NO", and she must have seen it too...her smile immediately drew down into the saddest frown, and then as Blake sees the "present" she had for me, he couldn't contain his disbelief, yells, "NO TAYLOR!"...and she cried so hard.  I have to say, we were both upset at the moment, we tried to save them and failed, BUT...looking back, the disappointment of losing our plants, and the loss of all the time and effort put into them was really nothing...her hurt feelings and broken heart were the worst damage done.  Even at two years old, children have such an understanding and such empathy for those around them...poor thing felt so bad that she went and put them in the trash and cried, " I made them trash, no good no more".   We consoled her, and then started over with some new tomato plants.

Two months later...we have four thriving tomato plants, two bell pepper plants, and a jalapeno plant.  We all are enjoying seeing the fruits of our labor, although Taylor hasn't quite learned a lesson (if she is left alone with them, she will still pick the blooms to give to me)  little stinker !!