It IS so sad....

 "It's so sad. Everything is gone," sighed a playschool boy, after he had begged and begged to run ahead into Poppaw John's garden.  I am sure memories of berries, warm and sweet. Of bite size tomatoes and crooked carrots. Of green beans and sweet peas eaten off the vine. Of pumpkins peeking out from behind massive leaves....had prompted his desire to hurry to the garden. He was so sad when he saw.... nothing.  Just sticks, dried leaves, straw and nothing else. 

He was right, it IS so sad......

Unless you know where to look.

And there, buried deep, in the mud and the muck.... Hope.

The garden isn't gone. It is simply resting and soon.... very soon, it will produce an abundance of

Joy!

red stained mouths and hands full of strawberries

children running here and there, unsure where to start first

the look of awe as they pull on some green and out comes a carrot

watching their own pumpkins grow from green to orange

feeding the dried sunflower seeds to the birds

Pure Joy!

Until then, we wait. And we remember. We breath in deeply and go back... just for a moment. Soon.