The purported subject of this blog?

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For some reason, I've been feeling remiss in writing so much about our garden, and so little about "How's Robb."

I think part of this is being in a new home. At the old place, there were always reminders about how life used to be before Robb's spinal cord injury. Here, I spend less time comparing "before" and "after." Maybe it's not the house. Maybe it's just where we've come to in our lives. Maybe we've moved past the crisis of the accident and adjusting to all the changes, and have resumed living our lives.

I don't know.

Yesterday, our kitty Linguine climbed up on one of our fences, and got herself stuck. This fence has barbed wire (which I keep meaning to remove) on top, and I was worried that she might slip and hurt herself. I grabbed the ladder, and Robb and I scooped her off the fence. My high perch afforded me a view of the yards that abut our back fence. Unlike our tiny green garden, there was nothing growing in these yards. Dusty packed dirt: that's all there was.

When I climbed down from the ladder, I had a new sense of perspective, about both our garden and our lives.

I'm sure many people would look at our garden and only see a tangled mess. Sure, our garden needs a lot of work. But we've accomplished a huge amount, and we're proud of what we've done. We've cleared away years of accumulated debris and things are thriving. It's ours. And it's an oasis for living creatures in the middle of a huge city.

And pretty much could be said about our lives.

Some people would look at our lives and only see the bad parts, the messy bits, the lack of resolution. But despite occasional (and well-deserved) freak-outs, we're happy with what we've got, and what we've accomplished.

It's not big,or particularly impressive, but it's ours.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lisa,
Maybe the original purpose of your blog was to keep loved ones updated on Robb's injury, but isn't it fascinating to see what it has become? People all over the world are learning about knitting, gardening, bee keeping, close up photography, spinal cord recovery, feral cats, theater set building, letterboxing, woodworking, birds, cleaning birds, and living simply and not taking it for granted, just to name a few things.

It is wonderful to see that you have moved beyond the crisis and can see the beauty of the moment.

--Leah in Centralia
BOOTY said…
You blog about life. Life is change. When you started teh blog, the changes you were experienceing were all about Robb, his accident and recovery. Now his health is fairly stable, and the changes in your life involve work, and your new home and garden, and your endlessly fascinating bees. Feel no guilt. I eagerly look forward to reading each blog, and discovering what the cats, or bees, or garden is doing, or the changes you make as you restore your lovely antique home. I like hearing the progress Robb makes in his recovery too, but it would be a dull blog if it was only Robb's medical story...your excellent writing style entertains and educates me, and I thank you for sharing your life with me.

Romana
Having come in late, post-injury, I find your blog to be a lovely, informative potpourri.
Thomas Rainer said…
I love that your blog does not fit into any traditional categories. I never know what you'll write about, but I keep coming back because its alway so delightful--whatever the subject.
I view all of your posts as "How's Robb" If you are not talking about a specific step forward or a step back I assume that things are static. I also assume that Robb IS busy fixing, gardening, biking, but most importantly LIVING
TaylorM said…
Or, you could look at it another way... Maybe you look at your yard and see only a tangled, nasty mess. Whereas perhaps when you finally look around, you might realize that in fact you have a beautiful garden in the middle of a sea of dusty patches.
Anonymous said…
I got news for you- after you get your place all situated (we are still doing so 4 years later) I suspect you will volunteer to add plants to your neighbors back yards, like we did we have 3 gardens in the neighbor with the promise of doing a fourth one up the block! Also, when you get more of a gardening itch, and 50 hours to a day, I suspect you can do some volunteer gardening at your local zoo/park like I did in Detroit, just to share your green thumb with people!

Annalisa
Karen Anne said…
Is that the neighbor whom you share the humongous unhappily looking fence with? what ever happened about that fence?

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