Seeds for Thought

If you want to become astonished by how quickly things can change, I suggest you plant some seeds.  Now, I'll grant you that it just might seem like FOREVER before the seedling breaks the surface of the soil.  And, their journey from that point to the first true leaves can feel painstakingly slow.  But, that's only because you (and everyone else who plants seeds) are breaking the "watched pot" rule.

You know the rule - a watched pot never boils.  

We're so invested in seeing immediate rewards for the efforts we made to plant the seed in the first place that we keep checking the progress at unreasonably short intervals of time.  After things get going, we tend to lose our obsessive behavior and our interest gets pulled elsewhere.

That's when seedlings sneak up on you.

Suddenly, they're asking you to get them some fertilizer or put them in a bigger pot.  Or, better yet, into the ground.   You get surprised when you look at them, then at their "baby pictures" and you wonder where your cute little buddies went.

Ok, it is true, the plants are still pretty small and they have a long way to go yet.  Still, the onion plants no longer look like they do in these pictures.  It's a good thing, of course.  But it can still be a bit alarming.  

Suddenly, I am realizing I need to start getting an area ready for the onions to go into the ground.  And they're not the only ones clamoring for attention.  Soon, they'll be at a stage where they can't stop asking questions.  Once you get to that point, there will be no rest for the weary.

It's almost enough for us to wish for their "teen-age" stage, where they wish you would just leave them alone in their room.