Plant me a Garden

Don't just buy me a pretty bouquet to decorate my bedside table, although the early morning greeting of color is always welcome.

Plant me a garden of my own.

Plant peonies who's soft petals and lingering fragrance are like your gentle first-of-the-morning kisses when your lips are the perfect firmness and temperature - like the overflowing lengths and depths of petals of the heirloom doubles that have different layers - like the moments where our kisses can go on in the depths of the morning through the afternoon, and if not careful, through the entirety of a weekend.

Plant tulips so that after the cold of winter the first burst of color stands out against the dirty, dormant ground. A reminder that tender, soft beauty and peace can be found after the cold rejections of disagreement.

Plant roses of all colors. The tightly bundled petals slowly relax and expand to reveal a large bloom full of fragrance - to remind me how you slowly pulled me out of my tightly wound, thick walls to reveal who I really am - and yet, still with a few thorns that you are well aware of and know how to avoid. Although you enjoy watching what happens when someone doesn't realize what they are grabbing onto and they get stuck when they deserve it.

Plant hyacinths that are the first smell of heaven in the new year; lilacs that take over in the giving of the smell of heaven as spring moves into summer; and honeysuckle that takes us through the rest of the fall. Like you walking in to the room to collect our things as we get to head out and take the town smelling like we really aren't going to be out as long as we planned........your sweet, intoxicating smell will linger on all of me for days and every time I catch a moment of the fragrance it brings a smile with the range of sweet and passionate memories.

Plant poppies - their grand flowing petals to reflect the addiction I have to my dresses and flowy tops that fly around me as you tightly sway with me and spin me around the dance floor.

Plant wildflowers and ferns in limited amounts and watch as they take over. Let their ability to multiply remind us each day how when we live unrestricted in love just how much it can grow and spread and take over to the point where in a short amount of time we can transplant - with roots - whole large amounts to those around us so they can have their own explosion of love not just own their bedside table, but with the nourishment from roots that have taken hold and run deep.

Plant hostas in the shady locations. Their gentle appearance, their differing texture and variegated details, their small blooms that attract hummingbirds and butterflies to show that even in the places where the sun is only visible in short glimpses beauty and grace can still be shown off and attract life to it. Sometimes the shade is the place we thrive and the intensity of the direct light would burn us up.

Plant lillies. Their tailored look, sharp details, unlimited range of colors and mixed designs to let me remember every amazing look we pulled off. Our hats and fabulous taste in shoes. Your ensembles and suits that turn heads in their combinations and refined taste. My dresses. The way you look on the casual days when you still rock anything you choose that make me stop and go, DAMN, that's the on that has my heart and steals my breath from across the room. The way I overdress for 85% of everything I do because.I.CAN. and you love me for it...even as you shake your head with that look on your face.

Plant lavender and other herbs. Each leaf or small branch when put under pressure releasing flavor, fragrance and oils. Anything that has pressed onto us from every side; every bad day; every heartache we marched through at the sides of each other - and at the sides of the ones we love; every dream we had to put off but finally achieved - EVERYTHING that tried to pummel and destroy us - we only added spice to, we added an explosion of positive to, we were pushed in such levels we overtook to where we were all that could be tasted in the dish that no one could stand to consume in the start.

Plant hollyhock, foxglove, glads, lupine, delphinium - the tall plants that in the bright sunlight which act as a border wall, protecting the smaller plants from the outside and adding life to a fence or a wall. The plants that might have to have a little bracing support but that don't burn up when they are the tallest, somewhat regal, members of the full-sun exposure group - but who also stand far enough back not to forcefully and intentionally overshadow those around it.

Plant vegetables and elements from an orchard so we never have to stop to fix a meal unless we want to. We can keep moving forward at top speeds and buzz by and grab a handful of fresh food that we can snack on as we make our way through the chores of life and as it quiets down create the most simple and tasteful feasts we can share with the bounty of our harvest.

Plant daisies and sunflowers. There are some flowers that will not allow you to be unhappy when they are in your presence. They are the flowers smiles are made of. The flowers bright spirits of made of. The flowers that when the day gets long you see and pause to breath deep. How, like laughter and a smile, one turns into two turns into 15 and then you get so lost in the joy you forget how bad the day was. The right placement of a single one can change an entire day.

Plant me a garden that will flow from before the last snow touches the ground until past the first frost of the season. Plant me a garden that in every season reminds us of our love. Plant me a garden that will never experience a down moment of color or life and allows us to select the finest beauty to bring in from the outside and fill every room of our home.

Plant me a garden that grows in all elements and thrives like each day - each day we make the choice to live in unity and love and in a combination of our differences that plays off one another to create unspeakable, breathtaking beauty instead of a competition of design and blooms.

Plant me a garden that has elements we can always give away, making the lives of others better and serve as a remind to them that great, passionate love of many colors and facets is possible and sharable.

Plant me a garden.......

I'll not let you do it alone.

I'll not let you tend it alone.

I'll not let you pull all the weeds that choke us out alone.

Plant US a garden.

La Sra.

(C) 5-31-15 Kristen Garcia.

Showers of Symphony

In the depth of the early morning a sound nudges me from my dreams.

In my slightly refreshed exhaustion it is as if almost every drop of rain hitting the metal of the roof, every petal of the tulips, the beginnings of the needled lavenders combine to create a melody.

And if I wasn't so wrapped up perfectly in my slumber, not so still sleepy, I could put lyrics to pen and create a song never heard. But the words stir around in my soul, but yet, I cannot pull them completely into my memory for later.

But the melody so perfect, the sound so sweet, it becomes a lullaby, allowing my tired soul to go back into peaceful rest.

But when I arise to take on my day I know the song was sweet, like I could almost see every note flowing from the falling rain when I turned in my bed to face the windows - but I couldn't hum it or replay it in my soul to share if asked. One of those beautiful mysteries that are better left saturating my soul than replayed in a realm that won't capture it perfectly.

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I saw the peaceful turn of your smile as you realized you did not wake for nothing. As your mind processed all the pieces together and the melody took you in.

I know of all the things in this world you have access to in this moment the one thing you love to wrap yourself in is music.

It has been your escape from the pain since you were just a child. The louder it was, the more you could feel it surround you the safer you felt.

But this morning - you didn't need it pushed to 11. You needed it just soft enough to hear as you woke, and yet, it still encased around you.

Instead of a wall to shield you from everything trying to tear you apart, trying to brace the cracks of your heart from the inside out - I wanted to try something new, something when you weren't in control of your environment.

And my plan succeeded. Nudged awake in time to hear a song just for you. One that I knew would make you glad I woke you up. One, that can prove that sometimes, the fortified shield isn't built the way you think it should be.

Rain on a roof; falling on beauty grown with blood, sweat and a few tears; the feel and smell of a fresh, warm spring morning; the memory of singing to the Oriole from the night before; the vocals of the praises of the birds awaking mixing to make a symphony.

For you. All for you. Just to see that slight upward turn of a sleepy smile, and finally get a chance to wrap you up my own, sweet, peace filled way.

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(C) Kristen Garcia May 5, 2015.