Love Changes Us

Finding a love story that never fully came to life reminds us that even failed love shapes who we become.

For years I avoided opening up a cedar chest that had belonged to my mother. I had brought this beautiful and worn antique home to Colorado after her passing.

This chest has sat in a spot in my house for all these 16 years.  Somehow it seemed like that last little bit of letting go of my beautiful mother was more than I could bear. As it happens with sentimental items, they seem to help us hold on, until they don’t.

Last week as I continue my winter cleaning and purging, I had the courage to open this chest with the goal to clean it out and then to release whatever was inside.

As expected, there were many things from baby blankets to old books. But the biggest surprise was at the very bottom of the chest. There it was as if my mother had hidden it away. An 11 x17 picture that is featured here at the top of today’s letter. Surely it had been there for decades, long before I became the steward of this chest.

As I read the inscription at the bottom of the picture, “To my honey, love always Jack”, I realized this was the man my grandmother had told me that my mom was once engaged to before meeting and marrying my dad.

All this has me reflecting as we step into February known for its month of love.  From people we love, to things in life that bring us love in one form or another.

In this week’s video I talk about another love, the love I have for my garden and why it is that I do what I do in the garden, year after year.

Love sure has it’s twists and turns along the way. We are never quite sure where this cherished emotion might take us at any given time.

I do know that when you step into a garden whether it is your own or one that someone else has brought to life, it changes you. The earth and all her amazing different ways is indeed a beautiful thing to love.

Love changes us. I want to encourage you as we make our way through February to dish out as much love as you can…you never know where it might take you.

During the days of this month insure you spread love where you may not have done so in a while.

What might happen if we all did it each and every day of these 28 days?

I would love to know where that takes you! Here we go!

Plant often and with Love!

Cheri

Cheri Ruskus

Author, Creator and Growth Mentor