Garden of Life

Garden of life

A garden is like having a living, breathing thing around you all the time.

It changes color, it seems, when you are not looking (buds to flowers, flowers to green).

A flower garden makes you feel like there is a future in life. When you see them reach for the sky?

A garden changes as life changes, the colors go from a deep hue, to red, to orange and green, a sign of maturity.  

Weeds have a place in the garden as well. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Weeds have their own story to tell, maybe of what could have been if only given a chance.

From the vibrant colors of the garden come the brown and yellow, full of promise, when they arise with a new urgency to bring dreams of the future.

Connie Campbell was a longtime resident of Seattle and Edmonds who attended writing classes with Ariele for many years at the Greenwood Senior Center, doing them on ZOOM since the pandemic. Though she passed in June 2022, she left behind several stories and poems as gifts to those of us who still are working at being alive. She was a great example of how to live, and to die, in a way that blessed those around her.

SHARING STORIES is a weekly column for and about the 50 plus crowd living in the Puget Sound region. Send your stories and photos to ariele@comcast.net. Tell local or personal stories; discuss concerns around aging and other issues; share solutions, good luck, and reasons to celebrate; poems are fine too. Pieces may be edited or excerpted. We reserve the right to select among pieces. Photos are always a plus and a one-sentence bio is requested (where you live, maybe age or career, retired status, etc.).

SHARING STORIES is featured on www.northwestprimetime.com, the website
for Northwest Prime Time, a monthly publication for baby boomers, seniors, retirees, and those contemplating retirement. For more information, call 206-824-8600 or visit www.northwestprimetime.com. To find other SHARING STORIES articles on this website type "sharing stories" or a writer’s name into the search function above.

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