Grugger’s Way

I love how they look and I love the idea of growing our own food, but I haven’t had the energy to plow, plant, fertilize, weed, nurse, coddle, and curse a garden since the 1970’s.

This year we put ONE tomato plant in a pot and set it out on the deck. So far, we have harvested two tomatoes. Picked when they just started to “pink up,” they now grace our windowsill and are turning redder by the day.

Mind you, we have an ACRE available for gardening. All I can think about is how much WORK it takes to convert a plot of dirt into the “what a beautiful garden you have” stage.

So this year, as in years past, (and probably into the future), we settled for a starter plant and will happily harvest (if one can even CALL it a “harvest”), and eat the fruits of our daily watering.

Our tomato plant has about a dozen more little green boys that we hope will grow into something worth harvesting. We could make salsa and spaghetti sauce. I remember that green tomatoes can be fried, or turned into relish….but wait! I only have ONE plant!

It can happen so suddenly and with an abrupt realization that there isn’t any hope to stop it; only to fight for every additional day. In this case, a headache, a diagnosis of an eye tumor, removal of the eye, implant of an artificial eye and then, six months later, the recurrence, and brain cancer. Four months later, a prognosis of two weeks to live. That became nine months of fighting for life.

There were so many at the service who knew her better than I did….so much better. They could remember her great laughter, her great sense of humor. Her friends told of her achievements and her healing powers, a qi gong master, an acupuncturist, and so much more. She had many friends who were healers: qi gong, yoginis, acupuncturists, cranial-sacral healers, faith healers, vibrational healers, spiritual healers, reiki masters, massage therapists, shamans. Her friends sought more to ease her way than to heal her physical body. In the end, she died; her body exhausted.

I cried for her husband who stood up there in front of 200 people and attempted to tell them how much his life had been enriched by her presence and how much he will miss her.

The few friends that I have are becoming fewer and fewer in number. Mostly, they have become victims of cancer. I don’t understand why science and medical researchers have not solved cancer. They know that some people reject cancerous cells as soon as they form; others are defenseless. If it is just a matter of money, then we must be spending our money foolishly. Too much on military, space exploration, bank bailouts, executive salaries, welfare (to take care of so many cancer patients too).

I know the American Cancer Society is always looking for volunteers and donors. And the Relay for Life is another way for individuals to show support for patients and survivors and contribute something as well. I need to reassess my own priorities and make certain that I do what I can.