A Snapdragon Life

I have been enjoying my apartment-sized garden. It has been small enough for me to handle, but varied enough for me to learn from. I have already dealt with bugs, rot, unhealthy leaves, and near-death experiences. Well, near-dead-plant experiences.  I am proud of the one pot of nearly-dead snapdragons I saved from the "bargain" shelf at Lowes. The yellow, curling leaves and wilting flowers begged for a little bit of nurturing that the store personnel had no time for. I took that dying plant as a challenge. I now have two pots (I split the plant up) of beautiful, full, pink snapdragons that greet me as I walk up the stairs of my apartment.

Reviving those flowers took some time, actually. It took some time and some research, in fact. Heaven knows I don't naturally have a green thumb (and I most naturally feel at home in a library) so I read about remedies from a series of garden books. I had to try different things to encourage new growth while removing the dead parts. I needed to provide nutrients via fertilizers and change the watering schedule (I overwatered at first, nearly drowning the plants). I experimented with a variety of sunlight levels, moving the pots to different spots at different times of the day. I am pretty excited to see my non-green-thumb, uber-library-nerd self accomplish this feat.

If I were to create an analogy for my life (which I do here... a lot), I consider myself similar to that of the snapdragon. I was not my vibrant, thriving self for a while upon my arrival to the Pelican State. And I am still not fully recovered like my snapdragons. But I know I am in the process of figuring out what works for me, figuring out what makes me blossom to my fullest. I have to adjust my schedule, my routine, my expectations, my habits, my goals, and my ideas in order to get me moving in that direction. I can't stay in the sun as long as the snapdragons for fear of a sunburned-induced death, but I can adjust where I put my energies.

Here is one of my experiments. I have mentioned writing with a purpose (and received quality ideas about it). I have thought lots about writing with a purpose. I decided to go ahead and give it a try with a more focused blog. I know, I know. But we thought you were trying to lessen your digital presence?? I am adjusting my presence. I am channeling what I have learned and how I use that in my day-to-day experiences into another blog. Maybe this will work, maybe it won't. It cain't hurt none to give it a try.