My mom always gave me the advice that when people show you who they are - believe them. I have never found these words such a mantra...

Turning the Soil

Although extremely overdone as a metaphor, Springtime is the ultimate rebirth. While pulling the endless amounts of weeds in my yard this morning, I came to some realizations. First, I don't take enough time to sit in the breeze and enjoy the moment. Second, those beautiful purple blooms in my backyard are weeds - no matter how "springy" and meadow like they are, they are weeds. Those beautiful purple weeds spread like wildfire also - they start out in a small patch and become beds and coverings before we know it. The most important of my conclusions was that in order to truly rid my yard of these weeds, I couldn't just cover them with fresh mulch. It might look prettier and give the illusion of cleaned up for a short time, but soon those weeds would peak through the new mulch and spread on the surface once again. Getting the yard looking fresh and new took work. I spent several hours this morning pulling the weeds out by the root, spraying weed killer, turning the soil for strays that I missed, and finally laying new mulch. It's why we give our yards a face lift in the spring, power wash our houses and decks, spring clean, plant new flowers - it's a time of fresh slates. Those slates, much like my yard, get over crowded when we just pile the new on top of the old. Sooner of later those roots have to be pulled out in order to have anything new bloom or grow. Now that I've completely beaten this metaphor to death, hopefully you see my point. This morning was a great reflection of why it's important to deal with what we need to deal with in order to move on. My soil is officially turned.