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| Tomato Sprouting |
I got home after I purchased the seeds and the small seed starting cups and realized I hadn't really gotten the stamp of approval from the woman of the house. Ruth was in the dining room probably musing over facebook. As I went downstairs to to the office both my parents were sitting at computers doing some kind of work.
"Mom", I asked, she turned around in the rolling captain's chair, "I need a place inside to start the seeds for the garden I told you about. It has to be in a place with a lot of sun, I was thinking Tim's room to keep it out of the way."
She looked at me with a please-be-careful-not-to-break-anything-or-make-a-mess face and said, "Do you think there'll be enough light in Tim's room?"
"Well the best place would be in the living room in that front window, but I don't know if you want it in there" She paused and it was clear she was struggling between her desire for a clean kept house while not trying to stifle one of the few productive things I've attempted to do.
"I'm going to put newspaper and all that stuff down. It's not going to be a mess" I said trying to reassure her.
"OK you can put it in the living room" she said with a sigh turning back to her work.
It wasn't a total acceptance of my proposal, but then again I first suggested to put it in Tim's room. But she was right. There really wasn't going to be enough sun in Tim's room, since it faces the North and is shaded by trees. I wasn't trying to be crafty by suggesting Tim's room and knowing the living room would obviously be better. I was just trying to keep it out of the way. None the less, she had said yes and I was satisfied enough and excited (pathetic, as planting seeds is hardly exciting) to head back up stairs to get the dirt and start planting.
I found an old piece of wood paneling in the shed brought it in and laid it on the small wooden desk with newspaper over it, then went back out with a bucket to get the dirt from the compost pile. When I was coming back in with a bucket half full of dirt, I didn't notice mom standing with her hands on her hips at the sliding glass door until I opened it.
"You're not coming in my house with that dirt!" she said.
I knew the whole seal of approval exchange had been too easy and in the back of mind knew better than to bring a bucket half full of dirt into the house, but I wasn't expecting such a drastic change. I put the bucket down on the patio and as I was coming back inside mom said,
"The dirt needs to stay outside. Come here and tell me what you're doing"
"I'm putting it in the living like you said" I responded as I followed her through the house to the living room where my set-up was. Looking at the piece of wood covered with newspaper she said,
"How are you going to keep the water from running off?"
"The newspaper, it'll be able to soak it up."
She was frustrated but wanted to understand and not just say no to the whole thing. Putting her hand on my shoulder her voice changed to what sounded like a teacher to a first grade class,
"Let's think about this: what happens when you pour water on dirt?"
"Mom, it's not like I'm going to be pouring buckets of water on these things."
We were both almost laughing at how much difficulty we were having trying to make sense of what the other person was saying. We both stood thinking, not knowing what to do next. I grabbed the bag holding the stater cups that was under the desk. There was a pause..
"Oh you have these cups?" Mom said.
From the other room Ruth was laughing having heard this whole exchange.
"What did you think he was going to do mom?"
In an embarrassed laugh mom said,
"I don't know"
"What, did you think he was going to just pile it up on the desk?" Ruth replied, laughing at us both.
"I don't know, do the dirt outside and please try not to make a mess" was mom's reply as she left the room.
Ruth kept laughing and I couldn't help myself either.
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