The Best Things in Life Are Messy

“Nobody likes letting go. From our earliest moments, from birth until we’re six feet under, our instinct is to grab, grip, cling to a finger, bottle, best friend, to a faded old racing form. Sometimes we hold on for dear life to the very things that keep us from living it, but that comes with an upside. It’s the way we feel when we finally let go.

The trick, I guess, is to not find a way around the curveballs life serves up, but to live with them; a halfway happy, uneasy alliance, and to search for new things to cling to, and when you finally find them to hang on just as tight.

And around and around we go, holding on until the time comes to say goodbye, and like it or not, ready or not, you have to accept one universal truth: life is messy. Always and for all of us. But a wise man once said, maybe messy is what you need, and I think you might be right.” 

— Mary from “In Plain Sight”, Season 5, Final Episode 

Last week I’m thinking about cleaning and this week I’m thinking about what’s good about living in a mess… Spring and summer certainly do create some lengthy To Do lists, especially if you are expanding your gardens and have a lot of house and yard maintenance to do.

My garden has gone from this.

To this!

To this!!!!!!!

Things are way whacked out of control! But amongst the mess and chaos, the chickens now have a backyard addition to their house, and they think that is way cool.

And while many plants have failed (zucchini, peppers, radishes, onions, and brussel sprouts), others are going gangbusters and providing oodles of meals and pondering photographic entertainment.

Exactly what is with my cucumbers? I think they cross-pollinated with the zucchini that never made an appearance.

I had plans to take lots of photos, maybe some videos, to capture this whole start-to-finish process with the garden and chickens.  The idea being that at the end, it would be so amazing, people might want to know how I pulled it off. Yeah right… Is there an end? I guess that would be called winter.

Few things ever go the way I planned and pictured in my brain. Call that a mess or call it a surprise, but Mary from “In Plain Sight” is right about not trying to find a way around the curveballs but to live with them.

But I don’t know about clinging to new things until it’s time once again to say goodbye. I don’t want to cling to anything. Instead I want to be at peace knowing that there is no such thing as permanence and it’s best to welcome and make friends with constant change. Without change, neither plants or people grow.

In my previous life I was always running outside to take photos of the horses playing in the pasture. Now I’m taking photos of backyard chicken antics (not quite as much beauty and drama, but still fun). 
You never know where life is going to take you, but I recommend having a pair of water proof shoes to wade through the shmess.

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5 Comments

  1. MR… Wow!!!!your gardens are fabulous! The chicken house must be greatly appreciatd…you have been very busy. I think those are English cucumbers…they are even better. You are cookin’.

  2. Thanks Lori. And I think you’re right, now that you mention it, they do look like English cucumbers. But I should have emphasized in my post a big factor in putting the gardens and chicken coop and shed together — I did not do this alone. In fact, it wouldn’t have happened without help.

    Thank you Steve…

  3. I think your garden looks great! My tomatoes (that I never staked) have completely taken over the entrance to my garden..so don’t feel bad. Ha! Love your chickens!

  4. The garden is fabulous!! Ours is wild and totally out of control as well…and like you said, life is just messy! But, you just gotta go with what is. I really like your cool chicken house too, I’ve always wanted some, but hubby says we already have more than we can take care of. *sigh* He is right about that, but someday…

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