The perennial garden

I feel like a wet noodle today.  The endless two-week marathon of good-byes has finally taken it's toll on an old dog like me.  My friend affectionately called me “cry baby” as she saw me bleary eyed for the hundredth time this week.  There must be some reason I am like this? Maybe it is because I have finally found a home in this town where life is what you make of it.  Kate started Lyman School only two days after we moved to Middlefield. I remember feeling like the new kid in the same way that my children did.  Peter was anxiety ridden in pre-school and Kate was a sweet and quiet first grader.  I was in mid-life no mans land. It took just days and we all started making connections. Like a newly sprouted seedling, we put down roots.  Over the years, we all grew in so many ways.  I had never have expected my kid’s school to become a place where I too would grow. We would become like perennial plants adding new blooms every year.  In saying goodbye today to Lyman, I felt like a plant that had found a nice sunny spot to grow in, only to be pulled from its perfect soil. Needless to say, my son was ready to be transplanted into a bigger pot so his roots could spread and he could grow even bigger.  Leaving Memorial School today left Kate clinging for dear life as the hurricane pulled her roots away from a soil that has nurtured her so well.  I guess all plants take being moved from one spot to another differently. What is most important to realize here is that while we have been transplanted, there is still much growing to do.  We still have more blossoms to bloom and seasons to weather.   In this little hamlet, a garden of wonderful people dwell. I am happy that my perennial self is still in this garden even if it was just shifted around. I am thankful for this, because there is nowhere I would rather be.