Little Surprises

Last night while watering the plants I was met with a lot of little surprises. Not just a multitude of blooms on all of my flowering veggie plants, but I discovered the peach tree had green shoots, the lemon tree had new shoots and leaves, and the banana tree had also sprung a new shoot. Good thing, too. I thought the bananas were a goner (because the two original leaves were starting to brown and shrivel up). Ironic how just when I began feeling like my hard work watering, feeding, and babying the plants was in vain – something like this restores my faith in all the hard work I’ve put into nurturing them.

I suppose this is why I like gardening. The results aren’t instantaneous and some patience is required, but ultimately you can see the results of your hard work in a few months time. It’s gratifying. I suppose writing is the same way for me. I like feeling like I’ve accomplished something. Like my hard work has paid off in some way. Even if it’s just one reader (or a few dozen) who tell you how much they love your work – it makes all the hard work, all of the rejection, all of the criticism, and all of sleepless nights worth it.

That’s life, too. 80% of life is hard work and it’s relatively uneventful, even downright sucky at times. But it’s the little things (the little surprises) that make it worth all the crap you have to wade through to get to the good stuff.  🙂