By Cindy Poore
So just out of the clear blue sky comes a shocker! Someone, you have counted on to be there and just took for granted is suddenly not there. Leaving you with a big hole in your life. Things can change in an instant. Sometimes, you get a second chance. Sometimes not. Far too often I am complacent about the now.
You are with someone. Someone you just met, or someone you love and you are not really THERE. You are thinking ahead of what they are saying, trying to formulate what YOU are going to say next. Not really listening because of course, you already know what they are going to say, right? I am so guilty of this.
That is what I mean. The most important thing you can do today and everyday is to really listen to the person you are talking to. Don’t just jump in with a comment because you don’t want to loose the thought. Be in the now with them and be thoughtful of what they are saying before formulating a response.
This is my New Me Resolution. I don’t have to wait for January 1. I can start NOW. Be patient with me. It will take practice.
My job is never dull. Being a self-employed landscaper, you have to wear lots of hats during the day. Any day could see me mowing acres of grass, designing and installing a healing, memorial garden, making a client’s weeds go away for months, knee-deep in a hole of mud and pipes, teaching a class in drought tolerant landscaping or my favorite one, sitting with a client, sipping coffee and discussing their landscape just to name a few!
I got an unusual request from a client recently, that certainly was unique. It seems that my client had visited Yosemite recently with friends. Sitting under the emerald sky of the giant Sequoias, they debated the tree and its benefits and whether or not it could grow in a place like the high desert. They talked about how majestic the trees are and how many life times they have lived and how many lives they have benefited. My clients certainly have the space for the massive trees on their Mojave River-side property. So they decided to test it and brought back a Do-it-yourself Giant Sequoia Tree Kit.
Naturally, as their landscape manager and advisor, the job was handed down to me. At first, I was a little peeved. I was thinking, I mean, really? Couldn’t we just BUY a tree partly grown? Don’t they know the odds of getting the little seeds to sprout and grow under the best conditions, never mind putting them into the ground near the river where God knows what has the opportunity to have it’s way with them?
I was relating my distress at the thought of trying to bring up mighty Sequoias from a seed, to a friend. She did not see my problem. “Aren’t they huge, beautiful, green trees?” “Won’t it take a lot of skill to germinate and raise the trees?” “Don’t Sequoias live thousands of years?”
I dutifully answered “yes” to each of her questions. “The way I see it,” she said, your client has a tremendous amount of confidence and respect for your skills.” “ And to top it off, at an average life span of 3000 years, I’d say it’s job security, Honey!”
I had to laugh at that. And the thought of practically being immortal by planting giant sequoia trees, who live for thousands of years is definitely worth the hassle.
Get Immortality, plant a tree!
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
~Nelson Henderson
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