My older brother, his wife, and their two toddlers were here for the weekend. As is usually the case with visits involving small children, not to mention a cornucopia of animals of various sizes, there were some stressful moments. There was some childish willfulness. There were some missed opportunities to say "Please" and "Thank you." There were some tantrums. There were some patience tests. And there was a whole lot of noise. But, if you went looking for them, there were splashes of color beautiful enough to take your breath away.
One of my favorites involved giving my 3 ("and a half!") year old niece, Katy, on the "what smells good in the garden" tour. We started with the Corsican mint, which has a sinus-clearingly powerful mint aroma, and I had her rub her hand in it.
Wow! It smells like mint!
From there, we moved to the myrtle bush, where I crushed some leaves and handed them to her.
Wow! It smells like mint!
For future reference, the corsican mint is not the best place to start the tour. Once you touch it, everything smell like mint. Rosemary, oregano, jasmine, lavender--my niece now believes they ALL smell like mint. I hope that doesn't screw her up later, because it made me smile. She seemed to enjoy it, too. However, her favorite garden activity by far, was picking flowers. She spent so much time wandering from plant to plant, looking for the prettiest ones. Once she'd put together a suitable bouquet, she announced, "These are for my mommy!", and ran off to deliver it. It was a moment that made my heart glow like sunshine. It must have made her mommy happy, too, because those picked flowers found their way into a glass of water on the dining room table.
They all left today and, inevitably, there was a call after they'd been on the road for a while, asking about the things they'd left behind. An iPod. Some portable speakers. But as we walked through our newly quiet house, I noticed there was something else that hadn't made the return trip.
I'll put the speakers and the iPod in the mail this week. For the flowers, a picture will have to do.
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