The Dance of Spring…

FINALLY here in the Northwest the sun is shining, plants are sprouting up through the ground, little lambies are everywhere in the fields surrounded by daffodils and flowing trees. Spring has always been my favorite season—and not just because I am a horticulturalist. It’s such a magical time of rebirth and new discoveries. It’s like the big giant chalkboard of life gets wiped clean each year and you get to start over.  The potential of the world is at your fingertips and you have a fresh perspective that anything is possible. For many people maybe that’s what New Year’s Eve does for them…but for me it’s the onset of cherry tree blossoms and daffodils. Its sitting in the sun, letting it warm my face and listening to the birds sing away in the trees. Life is happening all around me again and I feel alive with hope.

I suppose that is what drew me to horticulture in the first place. I always liked making mud pies and getting dirty and being outside. I loved working with my mom in the garden. She always had tons of vegetables and berry bushes and worked painstakingly out there day after day. Her garden was beautiful and it always made her happy. Me, on the other hand, not so sure I made her happy. I think I drove her nuts!! I also had quite the tendency to “burn the candle on both ends” as my mother put it while I was growing up.

When I was in high school I was the school pep commissioner (no surprise there really looking at me now) into all the sports, top GPA, yearbook, job and a ton of other stuff. I always loved to be busy. Not just a little busy–but super busy. I’ve often wondered about the whole ADD/ADHD thing with me, but moving fast has always been part of my genetic makeup and I am happiest when I am spinning as many plates as possible at the same time. I can keep a cool head about me when most can’t and have always been able to see the whole board while many peeps get caught on just seeing the first move.

So choosing a profession in horticulture seemed a perfect fit for me. Being in the nursery business is as crazy as it gets. It’s pretty much like farming, except it’s in little pots. Business is completely dependent on the weather, and that can really take a toll on you financially as well as emotionally. The weather dictates sales and it dictates your aches and pains. Your body takes a major hit as it is massive manual labor and the days are long and the work never ending. You make almost all of your money for the year in a three month span, so the pace is fast and furious when the season is on. So why do I do it? Why do I love it so much?

I tell people who don’t know that it’s a lot like going into McDonalds at 11:56 and no one’s there, but by 12:04 there are 100 people in line and the place is bananas with business. It’s completely exhilarating and can take your breath away!! I love the energy of it all!!! This is my twentieth spring in the horticultural industry and I am always surprised as how caught off guard I become when the whirlwind happens. And it always happens all at once. Always!! There is never a slow and gradual beginning. You wake up one morning to complete and utter chaos. And it doesn’t stop until the rush is over and everyone is served. I fondly refer to this as the “dance”.  At first it makes your head spin, and then as you regain consciousness, you start moving your feet to the music and away you go. Somewhere in the middle of the mayhem, you find moves you didn’t even know you had and you go even faster. Some people hate going a million miles an hour. Some people need structure and time frames and a neat schedule everyday to coexist with humanity. Not me…I have always loved the dance. My first job was a short order cook, so I suppose I got used to pandemonium and mayhem at 16 and bedlam has been my home ever since. A million things can come at me all at one time at a fast and furious pace…and it makes me giggle. I know…pretty nutty huh??!!

So finally, Spring has come and the dance has begun for me.  Lambies are in abundance, daffodils are popping up everywhere and people are out and about to catch the sun’s rays to rejuvenate their soul. For the first time in a long time I actually feel good about the ways things are moving. Maybe it was the super long, cold winter we had. Maybe it was the mountain of bills on my desk that have crept higher and higher over the last six months, or maybe it was just the gloom and doom of our economy that kept me in “worried” mode. But now…with cherry blossoms and tulips on my door step, I have a feeling of overwhelming wonderment and exhilaration again. It’s like I am in Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and I just open the door to Munchkinland. The view from my door is exhilarating with the all colors of the rainbow and it’s a whole new world I am about to walk into.

It’s the promise of spring that revitalizes my spirit each year and it’s the dance that I do in my job that keeps me coming back to my profession year after year. I suppose the two go hand in hand and I am quite fortunate that I get to do what I seem to have been born to do every day of my life. I’m glad…I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Thanks Mom!!!

Now go get dirty out there!!

Fran

www.stepables.com