I don’t like getting dirty,
Yet I like to play in the dirt.

Oxymoron? Perhaps, but

Fresh tilled soil, raked and ready for planting,
is a welcome invitation to run the soil through my fingers,
sifting through memories as I stop to remember
our first flower gardens beside the porch,
mine on the right side, my sister’s on the left.

Tilling, planting, watering, weeding…it seemed so
tedious at times to a child, but it brought beauty to our lives.
‘Twas Mom’s clever way to teach the ways of work…
Responsibility, competition, rewards; and
Dad’s way of sharing his connection with earth,
Where today he rests in peace.