A New Memory Made

For my birthday, my wonderful in-laws gave me money. Now some people may say that money is too impersonal, too generic. The people who say that obviously have money because a gift of money to someone who usually has none is a beautiful thing. I know all my poor friends are nodding right now.

Anyway, I got birthday money. And "The Code of Spending Birthday Money" clearly states that it cannot be spent on bills or anything too practical. It's free money. Splurge money. Burn-A-Hole-In-Your-Pocket money.

I had a big decision to make. Should I spend it on clothes? Nah, I have enough. Music? Can't think of a cd that I really want. A pedicure? No way, that's gone in a few weeks, never to be enjoyed again. A nice little field trip? Are you kidding me? Then all of the sudden, it hit me. I have been wanting a flower bed in front of my house ever since we moved in. But we've never had any extra money that we could spend on it.

As usual, there was a problem. I know absolutely nothing about flowers. But my Granny does. So I called her and asked if she'd come help me. My Dad told me that it'd tickled her for me to ask. She excitedly agreed to help me.

Thursday was the day. Dad brought her and the tiller over and we got to work. While Chris was tilling up the area (no small feat in our clay yard... Thank you baby), Granny and I headed out to the nursery. We spent an hour walking around while she taught me which plants I should buy and why. I learned that the color of hydrangeas is determined by it's soil... I had no idea. I also learned how to divide plants, prep the soil and find a ripe watermelon. Very cool! We talked and laughed and cut up. Loads of fun.

Then came the planting. She dug the holes with the hoe and I put the plants in. She got a little exasperated with me at one point because I wasn't packing the dirt down around the plant hard enough. She made me come over to where she was and then said, "Now watch me. See here? You take these two fingers and press down. It's not that hard!" "Hard" meaning complicated. In other words, "Your ignorance is annoying. Please try to keep up." But, hey, that's Granny. She's one opinionated lady... but in a nice way.

We got it all planted and stood back to admire. It's very lovely. Money well spent. I think next year I'll get a birdbath. And then my stupid, retarded dogs decided to come make themselves comfortable. Have you ever tried to drag a hundred pound dog out of a soft soil without ruining flowers? It ain't easy. After doing this a couple of times, Dad and I decided to put up the electric fence. Gabriel caught on immediately. Molly on the other hand... she's a bit slow. It's still not completely understood by her.

Thinking back on the day, I realized that I'd made lots of memories with my Granny. I learned so much. And I made her laugh a lot. She made me laugh a lot. And I saw again that I'm a lot like her. And in my opinion, that's a very good thing.