The wisdom of Randy Pausch and Snoopy

In “The Last Lecture”, by the late Randy Pausch, he encouraged parents to let their kids pursue their creative interests.  He shared how his parents had let him paint all over his bedroom walls. “If your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favor to me, let ‘em do it.”  In a similar way, my parents allowed me to “paint” when I was a child.  I don’t remember exactly when I fell in love with gardening, but I thought it was right after I got married and began tending to beautiful rose bushes where we lived.  Then it occurred to me that I had been a gardener long before that time in 2000.  My Mom always cared for flowers in the front yard, but I wanted a plot of my own earth to dig in.  I remember bugging my parents for a pumpkin patch.  Perhaps, I was really just intrigued by watching too many episodes of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”  Or maybe it was really all about the gardening itself.  Either way, my parents allowed me to have my own little section below the deck in the back yard to grow pumpkins.  It was a sunny spot filled with grass.  After removing the grass from a 4-foot area, and doing my best, I did grow at least one pumpkin.  It was a thrill to create something where grass once grew.  I don’t recall how long I kept up that patch before teenage interests pulled me away.  However, that small plot took root in my mind for a future hobby.  Tomorrow, my Mom and I will head off to Longwood Gardens for a morning of learning from their top gardener.  It seems only appropriate that she would be my “+1 guest”.  So in the spirit of Randy Pausch, if your kids want to dig in the dirt and mess up your yard, let ‘em!