Author L.A. Goodman

Hello, starlights!

Gardening has become one of my favorite hobbies over the years. I’ve learned so much about growing flowers from Batman’s mom and aunts. They’ve guided and instructed me in what to plant where, how to maintain it, and have even shared bulbs, seeds, and plants from their own flower beds to both start and supplement mine. It’s become a labor of love because of the people who have helped me learn.

For years I’ve added to my flower beds to make them an oasis of beauty. I’ve toiled and taken great pride in them. I’ve found refuge in them.

This year, however, I had a setback. Someone nearby seeded their yard, and the wind blew many of the seedlings into my flower beds. I’ve occasionally gotten grass in the beds and easily pulled it up by the root. The breed of grass this year, however, was not the sort to easily come up. It was invasive. The roots tangled out horizontally beneath all my flowers, killed most of them, and resulted in my having to dig up much of my flower beds several times to get the messy roots of the grass out of my soil. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement.

This morning I got into the worst hit flower bed again. Fingers crossed; I finally got the last of the offending roots. Almost all my plants were killed off by the infestation. Thankfully, a few of them will come back next spring, at which point I’ll plant new seeds to fill the void of those lost for good and try again.

As I worked, I thought about how gardening is such a great metaphor for life. We work on bettering ourselves, on being the best version of us we can be, on self-love and keeping our peace as well as we can. Life will always insert a roadblock here and there just because of the nature of living. Parts of us may not survive the obstacles thrown in our path, but other parts of us will grow back stronger. And the most beautiful promise of all, is we can always always always change course or start over to make things new again.

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received from one of Batman’s aunts is this: you just keep trying things until something works. As a Master Gardner in Training™, I’m going to continue trying, learning, and experimenting while hoping for beautiful things—both in my flower beds and in life.

Love and light!

L.A. Goodman

PS: If you’ve read and enjoyed Old Souls or The Nothing Place, the first two books in the Ash Bennett series, please consider leaving a review for both on Amazon. Each review helps. Thank you!