Good Friday, Good Life

I am busy getting my garden going, the opening of our farmers’ market is just around the corner. I was told years ago by a 93-year-old mountain woman that my plants needed to go in the ground on Good Friday. That was during my gardening infant stage when my thumb was as black as my cooking was that first year of marriage.

Since then, I have fallen in love with living a more simple life. Gardening, less clutter, spending quality time with my guys reading books and playing rather than in the car being overscheduled and worn out, and let’s not forget my passion for farmers’ markets. Pretty big jump from living in downtown Memphis in the rat race, striving to make more, do more and be more. Thanks goodness, no, I thank God that I now have a little more clarity on what “more” really is for me.

To me, “more” is being able to snuggle with my kids every morning knowing their thoughts, their dreams, and their hearts. Growing and picking fresh veggies, teaching my kids hands-on how to plant, grow, harvest, and prepare a salad or salsa that can not be bought at any store. Being a good steward of the land. Sharing my life and experiences with others. Relishing in the simple things in life that I was once too busy to even recognize.

With so many documentaries (Food Inc, Fresh) and TV shows (Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution- it is on tonight, don’t miss it) magnifying our food problems in America, I hope America is waking up and making changes. Not just for yourselves but for our future generations. I am so saddened by the statistic that says today’s generation of children are predicted to be the first which will die at a younger age than their parents due to obesity-related bad health. Not only does that make me sad, but it makes me mad. It should you too. Nearly one in three (32%, 23 million) American children are obese or overweight. And, don't think that because you have a skinny kid that they will not have health problems as adults when they eat McYuckNuggets and high fructose corn syrup laden foods on a regular basis.

It is Good Friday, so get out there and plant a garden and I hope and pray that you will spend the day pondering and celebrating that Good Friday is the drama of the love by which our every day is sustained.

He is Risen!
The Park Wife