Years ago I received the gift of a sunflower seed pot starter set. It came in a cute little box, but I, well aware of my curse for killing plants, just set the box on the counter.
And so time passed and all was well.
Until recently my husband had an urge to plant things this spring.
It started innocently enough with buying blueberry bushes to replace ones the last summer drought killed off, but then his eyes fixated on my little sunflower box.
“Why don’t you plant this?” He didn’t wait for an answer, but just pulled it out to start soaking the dirt. Then he left it on the kitchen counter to think about its future while he took a nap.
The afternoon passed, and I started cleaning up around the house from the day’s activities. The pot was still sitting on the faux granite. So I took the little guy to placate in my study window, my heart hopeful that maybe, perhaps maybe, I would see a sunflower grow.
And then I promptly forgot about it (as I usually do with plants).
My husband saw the pot a few days later, looking a little dry. He felt the soil, feigned a dramatic gasp, and then asked, “Did you remember to put the seeds in the dirt after I soaked it?”
I stared at him. He stared at me.
A grin spread across his face. “You were trying to grow dirt, weren’t you?”
He went to get the seeds, and now there was actually something in the soil. I watered it again, and this time, perhaps this time, it will actually grow.
Have you ever forgotten to add something to a recipe, or missed a step in reaching a goal? Perhaps you can also find some seeds to plant a pivot and get you on a better path.
As for the recipe thing—even my baby ninja cooking skills couldn’t save me from mistaking salt for sugar in my blueberry pie. There are some things in life where you take what you can from the experience and gain the wisdom to be better (for the record, I have been very lean on adding salt to anything I’ve cooked since then).