Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Dark Eyes Full of Mystery

I was very young the first time I fell in love.  It is a love that has lasted for years and one I believe that will last for a life time.  It is an innocent kind of love.  I delight in all my loves new accomplishments.  I can sit quietly for hours simply enjoying the company and often seek out my love during times of stress.  My love brings out the best in me and always encourages me to grow.

I first knew love when I gazed into a pair of dark mysterious eyes. He silently regarded me with mild curiosity, reveling nothing.  I cupped his tiny slender body with my hand and observes his tiny legs with their almost invisible toes. He was the length of my longest finger and the color of darkest midnight with a sheen of deep eggplant purple.  I was amazed that he had made a home in our garden.

The mystery of how he came to be there and the many secrets of his life held my attention.  That day gardening became a joy rather than a chore.  I was 11 years old and my family had always had a vegetable garden. My neighbors often commented on how Saturday morning was a show of asses and elbows as we all worked to weed the many flower beds that took up the majority of the yard.  We raised rabbits and chickens in the back yard and had veggies planted throughout.  The main garden took up the entire side yard.


The rabbits provided amazing fertility to our garden.  The compost pile was full of worms and covered a palm tree stump to speed its decomposition.  Tomato Horn Worms were considered a delicacy by the chickens who clamored over them.  Even the moth that is responsible for the Horn worms is beautiful.  Our garden provided a haven for me.  It was a vibrant living place full of discovery.  It was a hiding place that let me escape the often hectic and stressful environment of a divorced mother trying to fill every role possible in her three young girls lives.

That year I fell in love with a mysterious slender salamander and our families vegetable garden. 

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