Ocean View Reminiscing

Eden felt as though she was melting in the 39 degrees scorching heat as she stood there with the garden hose, concerned about her flower garden that she’d been proudly working on since early spring.

She often found herself deep in thought about her grandmother while she watered her garden. She named these moments of deep thinking, “reminiscing sessions.''

Grandma Pearl had passed about 20 summers prior and Eden was finding healing in remembering her granny, especially on the days that were more challenging.

Today's reminiscing session happened to be about a sunny, spring day. It was not long after Eden’s 9th birthday. She had been having a particularly tough week at home, and at school.

Any time she was having a bad day, visiting her grandmother's Ocean View Bed and Breakfast would undoubtedly cheer her up. There were always fun jobs and tasks to do at her grandma's house to help keep her mind in a better place. Most importantly, her Granny usually had wonderful baked treats for her to try out.

When she arrived at the B&B this day, her grandmother was waiting for her in the wooded area of the yard, next to the bird bath. She was holding a bag filled with colorful pieces of fabric, string, thread, and yarn.

She handed Eden the bag and said, “My darling, I’d like you to put each piece of yarn and string on all of the tree branches. As you hang them on the branch, imagine leaving your worries behind with the string to become something better. Afterwards, imagine good things you want to happen instead. When you're finished this task, come see me.”

Although Eden felt like this was a silly thing to do, she did what her grandma asked. When she finished, she went back to find her grandma sitting in the soil where her flower gardens had bloomed the previous summer.

She had made tiny holes in the soil already and requested for Eden to come kneel beside her. Then she handed over a small container of seeds and instructed Eden to place a seed into each hole, and then lightly cover it back up with the soil.

“But as you place the seed into the hole, imagine all your big worries away and into the dirt, and then think of something wonderful you'd like to happen instead,” Granny advised.

Eden did as asked, even though this seemed more absurd than leaving worries on strings in the tree branches.

Lastly, she was instructed to get the water hose from the back of the house and bring it around to the front of the house, so that they could give the dirt a good sprinkle of water.

Grandma Pearl explained as she pointed her finger towards Eden's heart, “Darling, some days will be good days and some days will be not so good, but you always have the power inside of you to turn the day around.”

“We have to plant the seed of knowledge that things will be okay, give your worries away, do the work to water and nurture this seed, think about your worries turning into fun days at the beach, picking berries to make pies, swimming in the lake, riding your bike as the sun sets, swinging high in the swing set. Then watch the seed bloom and blossom, every time” she continued.

Although her granny was the wisest person she knew, Eden didn't quite understand what she meant by all of that at the time.

After the third day of watering and nurturing her seedlings, while walking past the bird bath, Eden noticed that all of the “worry strings” had disappeared from the branches. “Wow!” she thought to herself, “Could it be possible that her worries had gone away?” She ran right away to ask her grandma about it.

Grandma Pearl assured her granddaughter, “Yes my darling, they have vanished and it didn't take long did it? They have left to become something better. Keep thinking about the good things you want to come instead and they manifest for you.”

A few days later, while watering the garden, Eden could hear birds chirping and singing and it had caught her attention, so she decided to investigate. As she walked up to the bird bath she couldn't believe her eyes.

So off she went, to tell her grandma about what had happened. She had to run all the way down to the beach to find her. She finally found her grandma, she was helping grandpa put kelp into buckets to take and use as fertilizer for their vegetable gardens.

“GRANDMA, GRANDMA,” Eden excitedly shouted, “guess what I found in the trees at the edge of the garden where I left my worry strings? The strings were transformed, just like you said and turned into something so magnificent. The birds took all the pieces and used them to build their nests. There are so many beautiful, and colorful bird nests in the branches and they all have tiny eggs in them.”

Eden felt relieved while getting ready for bed that night because she now had proof that her worries had left and turned into something better. She also felt happier and excited to go to school every day too, as she was eager to go check and see if the seeds had transformed yet after the school day ended.

Finally, it was the last day of school before summer break and Eden was excited to have the entire summer to spend at the bed and breakfast helping grandma Pearl and getting to meet all of the interesting guests that would travel to the island from around the world.

After school that day, she noticed her seedlings had formed tiny buds that would soon bloom. However, Grandma Pearl reminded her that the big worries would take extra time and work to fully transform.

She advised that Eden also had to treat herself the same as she treated the seeds. "You must drink water to hydrate, take baths often, and feed yourself nutrients to grow, just like how we added fertilizer to the soil. Don't forget to get out into the sunshine as much as possible, just like how the plants needed the sun. The final thing is to tell yourself, 'I am loved,' just like how we talked to the plants and sent them loving words to grow," she said.

For the next several months, Eden felt so happy and worry free. She was spending time at the beach in the sun, walking her dog in the sun, reading books in the sun, and playing basketball with her friends at the park in the sun. She’d even sometimes read outside while it rained and ride her bike in the rain too. She bathed often and made sure to eat every meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Finally, Eden noticed her flowers in the garden had bloomed. They were changing into something amazing because she had been working hard to take care of them.

She also noticed how well she had been taking care of herself too and it had helped to transform all of the worries into beautiful flowers, that bloomed all summer long and it filled her with sunshine, laughter and happiness.

September fast approached, and tomorrow was the first day back to school after summer break. Eden couldn't help but feel a little anxious about the new school year ahead. “Would it suck as much as last year?” she wondered as she was startled by the phone ringing.

Eden’s grandma had left a message to stop by her house in the morning before school.

The next morning Eden woke up early, she put on her cutest outfit and her new basketball shoes. Then shoved a piece of toast in her mouth, which she grabbed off the table as she ran outside and hopped on her bike to head to her grandmas. “Maybe she baked me something delicious for a treat at school today,'' she thought to herself.

When she arrived, Grandma Pearl called out the window for Eden to come inside and see her in the kitchen. As she parked her bike, she could smell a sweet aroma floating out the window and she thought for sure that granny must have baked her favorite treat, blueberry scones.

When she entered the kitchen, she could see on the table, an arrangement of the most beautiful bouquet of flowers she had ever seen. Granny picked them from her garden and right there front and center of the bouquet was 3 of her bright and vibrant, golden, yellow and orange marigolds that she had planted to transform her worries.

Her Grandma said, “Eden, your final task is to gift these flowers to your new teacher to help send off your worries for the new school year ahead. They will brighten the teacher's day and bring her good luck, while also getting rid of any worries that she might have for the new school year.”

Eden Gladly accepted this task, and when she came back to her Grandma's house after school that evening, Granny beamed from ear to ear listening to Eden's excitement as she told the story of how happy the teacher was when she handed her the flowers.

“And as she took the bouquet out of my hands,” Eden recalled, “She placed them in the cutest, hand painted glass vase that she had just filled with water and lodged on the corner of her desk before she gave me a big welcome to the class.”

Grandma suddenly embraced Eden in the biggest hug, and said “I have a gift for you!” It was a wooden plaque and written on it she said was her favorite quote, and it read,

“When you find a dream inside your heart, don't ever let it go, for dreams are the tiny seeds in which tomorrows grow.”

After reading it aloud her grandma explained, “you planted the seed and dreamed for better days and watched it grow and transformed a better tomorrow for yourself. Don't ever forget this.”

Suddenly this “reminiscing session” had ended as Eden wiped the tears that was now flowing down her cheeks, along with the sweat from the blazing heat. She leaned in and took a big sniff of the pungent Marigolds before returning back inside to her cool, air conditioned apartment.

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Eden still worried a lot after that summer, especially when her grandmother passed away a few summers later, but now she had the memories and wisdom of her grandma instilled deep within her to help turn the worries into something greater. She was forever grateful for Marigolds, and her grandmother's endearing life lessons!