I had had big plans for my garden this year.
She had been so patient with me last year during my book writing and photo-a-day challenges. I was going to make it up to her this year. More native plants to attract pollinators, a damselfly/dragonfly habitat, maybe even a National Wildlife Federation Habitat certification.
Since one of the themes in my book is how my garden was my first mindfulness teacher, I had said to my husband, “When the book comes out the garden had better look spectacular.”
Though I don’t have a set date yet for my book release (it will be later this year and, yes, we are still chewing on the title), one thing’s for sure:
My garden will not look spectacular.
Apollo has other plans.
This spring the garden passed the mindfulness teacher torch to our puppy, who is schooling me in the art of non-attachment, at least when it comes to my plants.
Apollo is the third puppy we’ve raised, but the first with a penchant for plant eating. It started the very first day we brought him home, when we set him down in the grass of his new yard and his baby legs bolted for the daffodils. CHOMP.
It’s not just plants, of course. He’s a golden retriever, and golden retrievers are known for gobbling up whatever suits their fancy. Apollo chews on rocks (spewing little piles of pebbles in his crate at night), socks are never safe, and worms on the patio after a rainstorm are a favorite protein source.
The beast swallowed an entire dish rag about a week ago. After a sleepless night of Apollo gacking the rag up and swallowing it again multiple times as I fumbled in the dark with the crate door, I was finally awake enough at 4:45 a.m. to pounce quickly and snatch the slimy mess from his clutches. Just a few days after that I found him on the patio chewing on a large shard of broken terra cotta.
But it’s the plants that I care most about. Every plant part, from the root ball up through the stem to the tips of the leaves and petals of the flowers, each and every aspect of plant anatomy appeals to my puppy.
And because I care so much about my plants, I am being asked this year to learn to let go, at least during the high tide of puppyhood.
So to sooth my inner gardener, I’ve joined Apollo in his digging escapades and have dug up a few quotes about the art of letting go:
Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go. ~ Hermann Hesse
Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over. ~ Guy Finley
Sometimes you have to sacrifice and let go of the things you love to move on with your life. I guess that’s why life comes before love in the dictionary. ~ Luis Araujo
Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions. ~ Gerald Jampolsky
It all goes away. Eventually, everything goes away. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
Of all the elements in the periodic table, not a single one is indestructible. ~ Marty Rubin
Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them. ~ Paulo Coelho
Abundance is a process of letting go; that which is empty can receive. ~ Bryant H.
And in case you’re wondering, Apollo has never gotten sick from any of his foraging. I will refrain this year, however, from planting the highly toxic but otherworldly castor bean, one of my favorites from last year’s experiments.
What about you? Are you being asked to let go of anything these days? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
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