Believe it or not, I haven’t always been a gardener. Though I have always loved living things. When I was young I really enjoyed the creepy crawlies, such as insects, reptiles and amphibians. The vast majority of these creatures were found within the biodiversity of the Santa Cruz Mountains. After growing up in the Bay Area, I served a mission, then returned home and married a beautiful young woman less than a year after I returned.
Fast forward to 2007, my wife and I had our last child and I was starting my career as a teacher of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. Over the years I have loved working with the Deaf community and the children who are living life with their hearing loss. I have cherished the colleagues and the relationships I have made with them, the students and all those who I have been able to work with throughout the years.
But of all the things I am grateful for, along with God, I am most grateful for my little family. I am grateful for the family I came from, but also for my wife and children. They mean so much to me. We have worked with our children over the years and seen them go off to college. Helping to raise growing children has been an honor and seeing them transition out into the world has definitely left me feeling some loss in my life.
Around the same time our last child was born, I gave up my very time-consuming hobby of raising praying mantids to start a garden. Little did I realize that this hobby, like others, could eventually be consuming. Over the years, I have worked to temper my ambitions in relation to my gardening – in order to ensure that I made room for the most important things.
I would definitely say that I am grateful to be able to share my life with my family and friends. I cherish my relationship with each of them – but especially with my very close friends. I am so grateful for the association I have had with them and the bond that I have had with many who share my love of gardening. While there are times in each day that pass slowly, as I look back at some of the themes of my life, it can be hard to believe that things have progressed so quickly.
Gardening has been a wonderful hobby for me. I hope that I can continue to share my love of Gardening through this blog and my various other outlets.
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Dear Gardening Friends,
I look forward to learning more about gardening with you. Your comments help me recognize that gardening is a life-long journey.
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