Weeding.....

"People who spend a great deal of time in their gardens attest to the natural mindfulness that gardening requires.  What could be more naturally mindful than weeding?  It requires a great deal of sustained attention.  Weeds need to be taken up with care: Pull too hard, and the weed breaks in your fingers, leaving the root to grow and spread.  Different weeds need different techniques and, sometimes, tools.  When we weed our gardens, we have to pay attention to where and how we walk and bend.  Move too far in one direction or another, and we'll squash growing things."
                                                                                    -  Sura Lama Das, Awakening to the Sacred

This weekend my daughter suggested that we go to the closest park and walk the new walking trail that had been finished this winter.  The sun was shining and the temperature was in the mid-70's--seemed like a "no-brainer" to me.   It really sounded like just what I needed after sitting around reading in my pj's all morning long.  As I was gathering up my stuff---my i-pod, my camera, and my big jug of green tea that everyone says looks like "pee", I met my daughter in the ghetto van.  She was already getting frustrated with me for taking so long---seems she had plans for later in the evening. 
As we arrived at the walking trail, she was immediately off walking. She was swinging her arms and pacing herself quickly.  Before I could get out of the car she was a good 300 yards on down the trail.
I had to laugh.  I could tell by her swing that she was already sorry that she'd asked me to come.  It started when we pulled up and I asked her to let me take a pic of her blowing the pods of a dandelion--to which she rolled her eyes and told me that I was not to be taking her picture.  
By the time I got out of the car, I could barely see her as she rounded a bend in the trail.  I walked slowly at first and then decided to run to catch her.  I wasn't sure if she was trying to stay away from me because of my exercise pants that I was wearing or if she really wanted to walk alone.   Panting I arrived and we walked for a few minutes together before her pace stepped up and she was off in front of me again.  
I like looking at things along the side of the trail.  I stare at the foliage along the sides and sometimes stop and watch bugs in the grass.  At one point I got off the trail and was digging in the middle of some honeysuckle when I heard her.  "What are you doing mom?  Get out of there!  My gosh, we have honeysuckle at home."
We walked for a bit more before I was off taking pics of weird things growing up a tree.  She left me for a bit.   As I was catching up, a bigger woman came running through the trail in her tennis skirt.  She was kind of slow and as I watched, I the thought ran through my head, "I think I can beat her."   My daughter turned and watched me and waited.  She smiled, "you wanted to race her didn't you? I saw you thinking about it."  And we laughed.
Along the trail, I met a woman pushing her little boy about eight in a wheelchair and also leading a big chocolate lab.  The little boy had a toy drum sitting in his lap and I almost stopped them and asked if I could beat it with him.  Instead, I smiled and said, "Hello!"   I could feel the love the mother had for he son in her tenderness with him.
Later, my daughter was really getting angry with me.  As I waded into some weeds to take the picture above, she said, "Give me the keys, I don't get you taking pictures of weeds when you know I've got to be somewhere in an hour."  I quickly snapped the pic above and decided to put my camera in my drawstring bag.  She waited a bit and we finished out the walk together. 
Sunday morning after picking my dropping off my daughter at the movies with her friend, Norman, I was getting out of my van when I noticed how unkept my flower beds looked after the long winter--leaves covered the new plants coming up and among that the weeds were poking up everywhere.  I stopped for a minute to dig and uncover and pile up weeds.  I was surprised at the root systems of some of the weeds and how some were so tightly embedded all I could do was pull and break them off at the ground level.

In doing the weeding, my bed looks a little bit better, however it still needs lots of work which I may get to or not.  As I was reflecting upon my encounters with weeds, I had to wonder about what kind of weeds I had growing in my own garden soul.   I wondered which ones I had tried to pull up but the root system was so deeply embedded, the best I could do was just snap it off for a bit.  As I reflected, I wondered......what kind of weeding do I need to do? and immediately felt the tension between..........but sometimes weeds are pretty and I like them and weeds aren't worth anything....

Seems I have a bit of work to "think about".    What do you have growing in your garden on this cool Monday morning?  I'm just asking........
P.S.   M.  sometimes the stuff we find in the weeds along the trail...teach us the most.