Planting Seeds

I was walking to work the other day, noticing the palm trees that grow in northern Florida. Sometimes you can look down at the grass in the yards of neighborhood homes and find palm spikes sticking straight of of the ground. Their seeds having sprouted, push their way out of the ground and into the sunshine. They want so badly to grow anywhere they can. 

It got me thinking about my life over the past few years. I left my hometown in Rhode Island to embark on several different adventures with my now husband A. They took us all over the country, and landed us residing in places like Carrollton KY, Las Vegas NV, Springfield MO and now Pensacola FL. Wow. What in the world could all these places have in common that would have brought us to all of them in such short periods of time?

From an outside perspective, nothing. There is nothing in Las Vegas that is like Missouri. And pensacola is completely different from rural KY. But there is something about all these places that will always be united; the seeds I planted there. 

My roots grew strong in RI. They are deep and vast and complex. I learned so much of what I needed to know to expand my horizons and live a life in new locations. Exploring however proves to be difficult sometimes. Once I got to these new places, I often felt unsure, lost and uncertain about what the first steps should be. How do you live somewhere new when all you know is back home? And while I didn't recognize the lesson at the time, my "small fish in a big, new pond" syndrome was teaching me how to survive. I somehow found the sunniest spots, dug some little holes and planted some seeds. 

In Carrollton, KY honeysuckle vines drip with the sweet scent of love, giving and family. A group of strangers united and we planted seeds together and created a forest of trust and strength. We learned how to rely on each other and how to love each other through all of our ups and downs. It was here that I found my first home away from home. Las Vegas holds my "overcome fear" ferns. I learned how to miss my family yet still figure things out without running back home. To overcome that fear, I had to feel more scared than I ever had before. I planted some seeds and felt myself grow. In Springfield, MO a dogwood tree blooms with my "confidence." I sowed those seeds during a time that I felt weak and vulnerable and needed to love myself so I could be strong and always thriving. MO is where this blog was born and consequently a piece of me always resides in its soil. 


Today I write from Pensacola, FL where I literally plant seeds almost everyday. In a literal way I plant food, tend to it, harvest it, and hand it out for people to eat. I help teach people how to feed themselves and plant their own vegetable seeds. I haven't yet identified what kinds of figurative seeds I have been planting. But I do know this...I feel confident in the seeds I have planted all over this country and it seems time to plant seeds for others. I have planted my family, my fear, my confidence and my love for who I am. And now I am ready to put all those things into the community here and focus on those who needs my gardening hands and heart. 

Our roots may be what originally made us who we are. But once we put our seeds in many different places we start growing new roots. I like to think that even though this blog is in a cyber world, accessible at any location, it's got its own roots growing deeper, plants getting taller. I just know that now is a time to pour myself into community and see what I can do to make it grow. 


Where do your seeds grow?


BPositive and Always BPlanting!


Love, 
B