BRAND NEW

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This weekend found me digging holes in my Southern Born Woman’s backyard. 

She likes to garden, and has kept up with a small patch of wonderland for quite some time now.  For a while, she employed an Irishman with a green thumb (what else?) who would get down and dirty, weeding and turning the ground over so that she could plant to her heart’s content. 

But Sean, as he was called, disappeared one season, never to be heard from again. 

 So, naturally, I volunteered.  All I asked for in exchange for my shovel skills was a tomato pie.  She makes a damn fine pie.

We got to our task in the late morning, dodging a few threats of rain until our determination won out.  Our break came in the form of a trip to the Nashville Farmers Market where she picked out a few roses and some leafy things the names of which I can’t remember.  What I do know is whatever we planted was perennial.  If everything goes well, our work might pay off for years, and make her backyard world more beautiful as time passes.

Back to her garden we went, digging holes and mixing plant food until a late lunch gave us another break.  We had made plans with our friends Don and Leslie and their brand new baby, who (like the leafy things) has a name that’s momentarily lost on me.  If I were a more careful self editor, I’d come back later and deal with this bit of old agedness, alas, that’s not me.  But that little boy has the most lovely disposition, I must say.  And the bluest eyes.

New life is everywhere.

Today, our GPS barked out directions as we headed to another couple’s home on the other side of Nashville. 

Eddie and Corinna are expecting.  Actually, their C-section is this Wednesday, so the word “expecting” is slightly understated.

In what might be their last opportunity to entertain for the next 13 years or so, Eddie and Corinna prepared a beautiful brunch for a few friends.  I had never met any of the other folks, but we all united under the same umbrella, waiting for a rain of blessings into their home and life.

Our visit culminated in the nursery, all pink and cheery, with friendly owls on the walls and a mobile of butterflies hanging from the ceiling.  In that small space we were asked to speak or pray a blessing into their life in these short moments before their new daughter is born.

The expectant mother said, “I hope this world is becoming a better place; it is, isn’t it?  If nothing else, I hope that Millie arrives and makes it better”. 

Lovely.

New life is everywhere, even in a mother’s hope that our crazy, insane world is improving. 

As she said, all this world really has is the hope of a new life, a baby, for example.

No wonder there are those who speak of being “born again”!  New life, new chances, new reasons to hope; this is the bounty a newborn often brings with it. 

We got back to my Southern Born Woman’s garden, and sipped ice tea, surveying the handiwork of color splashing red, pink, orange in an otherwise verdant jungle.  She pulled a few springs of mint from a potted plant and put them in our tea.

I've been a parent for over two decades, but I still remember the days of expectancy, and the first seasons of a new baby.  One can't forget their wide eyes, their innocent coos, their sheer optimism, and their belief that you, the dad or the mom, are going to give them the most beautiful life.

Well, children, we try.  And we hope.  And then we pass the torch to you.  And the process repeats.

New life is everywhere.

I sipped my tea.

I thought about the little blue eyed charmer we had picnicked with yesterday, and the long expected child due this Wednesday, and at this moment they’ve fulfilled Corinna’s wish~ they’ve already made the world a better place.

New life is everywhere.