Harvesting You

 As a gardener, you put all that work into preparing the soil, planting seeds and getting things to grow, but if you don't reap the harvest, was all that time spent in vain?

One could argue that the journey itself is important and worth taking even if the original destination is not reached.  However, if you want to get to get to Kathmandu, you may be able to find enlightenment if you only reach Raleigh, but you won't find the Swayambhu Nath.  Similarly, if you plant a garden and subsequently don't have time to pick what you grow, you may feel good about putting in the hard work, you may feast upon the beauty of what you've planted, but you won't eat.

Harvesting is that last leg.  You've run the race and its long, but there's still further to go.  Harvesting is tedious, especially if you did a vigorous job and expended a lot of energy on putting it in.  Now you are tired. You have to dig deep to find a reserve.  You have to work some magic or call upon some gods or something almost supernatural to push through to the end.  At least I do. But there's the kicker.  It's not the end.  I think that's what makes me so tired just thinking about it.

The Last Legs

Harvesting makes more work.  What on earth do you do with all that produce?  At least the runner can rest. The spiritual seeker can drift away into nirvana, but the gardener, no. There's just more work. Cooking, pickling, dehydrating, these are a few things I have done with the produce in the past, but unfortunately, many years so much veg has succumbed to weeds, disease, pests and neglect.  Precious fruit rots on the vine.

This year I want it to be different.  I want to be different.  I want to do better.  I want it to be better.  I want, want, want, but that's not enough.  I have to do the work.  I have to dig into the well and find some energy to finish.  I have to see things through. 

The rain helps.  It waters.  Saves me so much time.  And my garden is flourishing for it.  But so are the weeds.  Resilience.  Don't quit.  Day by day. Deep breaths.  One step at a time.  And at the end of the summer, I will have grown.  I will be a stronger person.  I can step back and take time to pick me. 

However, the question still remains, what am I going to do with it?  All that produce.  All that me.  Can it?  Preserve it?  Give it away?  I guess we'll see.  Doesn't really matter as long as I don't let it go to waste.