It’s 4:45 already on Saturday afternoon, all I’ve had to eat today are two waffles, my clothes and body are stained with dirt—and I’m absolutely loving it. For the past few weeks, any free moment on the weekends and weeknights have been spent in the yard. It is taking me a long time to work compost into the soil and get it ready for planting–and then figuring out where to plant everything is another story. I’m about halfway through with planting in the area that I’m focusing on, though.

I can see why my dad loved being in the yard so much after a day of sitting in a cube. In the morning before I go to work, I stare at my yard. When I come home, I walk by all my plants to see how they are doing, and I notice every little bit of growth. The bud of a flower that has opened up a teensy bit more since the previous day, a new leaf that is a shade lighter than the more mature leaves, the upright stature of a plant that may have been more wilted the day before. It is so satisfying to see all these small signs of growth, which may go unnoticed by someone who isn’t as invested in the yard.

Since 10 am, I have been planting, digging, watering. It’s been raining on and off, and now that I have come inside and called it a day, I see the blue sky peeking through. But my lower back is telling me to give it a rest.

As I was out there, I felt completely content, at peace, and not anxious about anything. Usually my mind is going a mile a minute, flying from one subject to another, eventually wondering how in the world my thoughts got where they were. So it was such a huge relief to be out there and not hindered by thoughts of things that have been on my mind all week–things I want relief from, to not think about for just one hour. Today, I got six hours away from those thoughts and was able to enjoy the moments as they happened, the dirt under my nails and on my clothes.

Other developments in our yard: Our unending supply of blackberries (aka the enormous, invasive, ugly blackberries in our yard) are now gone! We met our neighbors and teamed up with them to hire someone to remove the bushes. Hooray! (Before and after pics…)