“As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.” – Chauncey Gardiner, Being There

As we walked to our favorite spot in the park, I told Louisa about the Jerzy Kosinski book, Being There and its protagonist, Chauncey Gardiner, and how he said, “..all will be well in the garden.” She barked in agreement before jumping on the bench.

We marveled at the colors’ return, more vibrant than ever this spring. Maybe it was the rain over winter, or perhaps something else.

Maybe it was Nancy and Jerry who told the garden it was time to bring back the colors which would bring people back to the park.

Louisa and I met these two, bustling about. They kept working, telling us how the Master Gardeners gather weekly to maintain this sliver of a garden in our favorite park.

Jerry told us how the Freedom Park Demonstration Garden, “makes good use of the undulating berms, providing distinctly different planting strategies with sun or shade exposures.” We hadn’t thought about that.

Nancy apologized for not having a biscuit for Louisa, thoughtfully offering fresh oatmeal raisin cookies (made for humans), instead.

As we visited more, I worried about keeping them from their work.

“No,” they both said, explaining how gardens are meant as places to linger, to rest on a bench, to think about patience, and to allow our frenetic lives to be placed on hold, if only for a moment or two.

Nancy took off her glove to shake my hand, as Jerry waved good-bye, going back to work in the soil. I thought he’d need a bar of Lava tonight and maybe a pocket knife to clean under each nail.

Both of my new friends may need ibuprofen before bed, but they’ll be back – because that’s what volunteers do. They make a choice to contribute, whether in the spot-light or backstage in a garden.

Now, with the continuum of seasons, we’ll pay more mind as we pass. Maybe Louisa can sit on the bench while I talk to the flowers and plants. We’ll look for Nancy and Jerry, to thank them for keeping the roots from being severed so “all will be well in the garden.” We’ll thank them for putting their “drops in the bucket” of our lives, each adding up to so much, when we take the time to count.

As always, the conversation starts here.

“In the ordinary choices of every day we begin to change the direction of our lives.” – Eknath Easwaran

Epilogue

What else does Chauncey Gardiner (played by Peter Sellers in the 1979 movie, Being There), teach us today?