Two Gardeners

We dug into the compacted soil and broke up the clumps. We pulled out weeds. We dug and chopped and finally forced out some long roots from unwanted plants. Finally, my 3-year-old grandson and I had expanded a small piece of his new backyard into something resembling a space for vegetables and flowers to grow. His Mom and he will take care of that.

We also worked our way up the hill in his new backyard to an old pole with a water faucet, noticed the ancient hose that disappeared below layers and layers of ivy vines. We turned on the faucet and heard the water but could not see or reach it. So we started hacking away at the vines with clippers. He with the long ones, I with the short, sharp ones.

An hour later, we had freed the hose! It still worked, so we watered our little garden patch far below.

Next, we discovered some wire screen, tied to the earth by more intertwined vines. I didn't think we could free that but Luca did. So we started in. By now I was sunburned and tired, feeling old. But my young companion was sure we could succeed and in the end he was right.

I told some friends later this was a "mental health day." What I meant by that was that instead of stressing out about the crap that besets me daily now, the audits, the financial worries, the search for paying work, I spent the day in the sun with a little boy whose imagination and focus know no limits. That's the best therapy for someone like me that I can imagine.

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