It’s time to plant!

Those words meant it was time to hit the fields to began planting fields of corn, soybeans, oats and flax. The words meant that it was time to begin our long hot summer hours of work. And work we did!

It was also the time of the year to plant the garden, and I must admit, I did not do much gardening because of my time spent in the fields. My mother and sisters did most of that work, and fortunately, I did get to revel in the fruits of their labor. Hopefully, I showed some thankfulness for their hard work in the garden and for their canning skills.

Ah, planting seeds! There are so many different kinds of seeds to plant, aren’t there? Naturally there are the physical seeds that will grow into food and flowers. Yet, like never forgetting our personal histories, we must never forget to plant other kinds of seeds.

Some of our planted seeds mature, are utilized and are gone. Others least a lifetime and beyond.

As a young lad, my life revolved around books. When our family (And everybody else!) would make our weekly Saturday night trip to town to buy groceries and to socialize, my feet always went to our local public library. I didn’t want to run around town. I wanted the quiet and inviting atmosphere of the library where I would gather my reading material for the week.

The library seed was planted by my parents, and it still grows today. Hopefully, I pass that seed onto others.

When the wine seed was planted within me, it needed a lot of nurturing. It has grown, but, alas, there’s so much more personal growing to accomplish. I’ve experienced numerous different seeds along my pathway. For example…

Do you know what it means to “pay it forward?” I’m sure you know, but do you do it? Do I do it? One of the seeds to pay forward is kindness. While buying a couple of items at the grocery store, the woman in front of me offered to buy my items. I was blown away by that random act of kindness. Thanking her profusely, I placed some money in the hands of the cashier and told him to use it to help pay the bill of the person behind me.

Does that make me a saint? Heck no! But I like to think I paid forward that woman’s act of kindness to me. That’s planting the seed of kindness.

At a recent wine tasting event, someone (I like to think a friend of mine) donated a bottle of wine. Now folks, this was not a bottle of two buck chuck wine. It was a bottle of top rated Amici Cabernet Sauvignon. As I explained how we received the wine, I tried to reflect gratitude in our toast to the wine giver. Hopefully, that toast planted some seeds of gratitude, and they will be passed forward.

By the way, the noted wine is awesomely delicious. It’s full of luscious black cherry and mocha flavors with a long soft comforting finish that ends with a touch pepper taste. I will always be grateful for that tasting experience.

Isn’t it interesting how a smile begets a smile? It’s so nice to be on a walk, meet someone and merely smile at each other. Sometimes they don’t smile back, but who know the burden that’s being carried on the back of the non-smiler. Maybe, just maybe, your given smile plants a seed of happiness in the other person’s heart which will help relieve the heaviness of that person’ mental or physical load.

Life can be nasty and beautiful. That’s reality! We must strive to keep that in mind. What helps empower more of the beauty of life is planting seeds of happiness, gratitude, kindness and understanding.

That bottle of Amici Cabernet Sauvingon will always remind me to be thankful for the kindness of someone, and to remember the happiness that came with it.

You know, I think that planting the seeds of life is our legacy.

As always, eat and drink in moderation but laugh with reckless abandon!

Cheers!