My mom is awesome.

My parents got home two nights ago. It's a relief to have them home. Not that I don't like being alone. But you know, my parents give me such hope for my future home. They're so good about doing things. At home, I feel so lazy all the time. Like I'd just as soon watch a movie or read than clean or bake or cook. It makes me feel fulfilled to be in an environment where people do things. We spent all day yesterday finishing the garden. I have to say, I really feel like if everyone had a garden, the world would be a happier, healthier place. Dad got a truck full of mulch, Mom and I went shopping for plants for my two plots, and then I hoed the garden beds and we planted. Tomorrow Dad will mulch. In the meantime, Mom is cutting up fresh fruit for us to snack on and baking today. How awesome is it that tomorrow we're having fresh English muffins for breakfast? Soon we'll make jam and pickles. It feels so good to have these mundane tasks to do. It feels so nice to have someone to do them with.

Yesterday by the garden my mom was telling me some stories from her childhood. Everyone is always talking about how my niece is such a crazy kid. She is a crazy kid, it's true, but you know she comes by it honestly. Everyone knows Mary is a nut, and it appears Mom was too. My mom and her family used to go to a lake every year on vacation. She said that when she was eight years old, she found that she loved gutting fish. And she told everyone by the docks that if they brought her their fish, she would gut them for free because she loved doing it so much. Isn't that hilarious? She said she used to set up shop right there on the lake. She'd have a big bucket of guts when she was done. Hahaha, what a nutter.

She also said that she had a love of gardening for as long as she could remember. She said her grandfather Kirka used to be a champion gardener, who was winning prizes all the time for his flowers at the (L.A., so really big) county fair. She said that he taught her how to plant her own plants in pots and grow them on the window sill when she was little. And then she looked at me and said, "I can tell you what, though. There is no substitute for the Earth. You can grow fine plants in pots, and make do in a greenhouse, but the plants really come alive when they're planted in the ground. They know they're home. The energy can't be matched. And there is no substitute for rain either. Plants love the rain, and they won't ever grow better than they do when they're in the soil and the rain falls."

How could you not have such amazing hope with a mother like that to teach you, and a wonderful world like this to live in?