Green thumb

I can honestly say that i don't have too much stress in my life. I love my job and am loving getting pay checks. I do have some major monetary expenses coming up - but I have faith that everything will turn out. In case you didn't hear, Tina and I broke up, so I don't even have relationship stress. I am doing pretty good with life and am pretty happy.

That said, I'm still trying to create stress relievers in my life - in case life ever does get stressful. One stress reliever that I started was going to the gym (by the way, my massage therapist has convinced me to start lifting weights in addition to swimming - so as soon as I figure out an exercise program - I'll start lifting weights). No matter what is bothering me, I am usually a lot less bothered once I've swallowed some chlorine and swam half a mile.

Another way that I combat stress is by working in a garden. For me, pulling weeds is therapeutic. Working with the soil and tossing it over inspires me. But I live in an apartment where there is no room to grow unless I want to create a florescent harvest and I would only do that if I was growing pot.
Since moving to Antioch, I have been trying to find a community garden to grow in, but all of the community gardens have gone under thanks to CA's push to develop land. So I was at a lost as to where I could garden. I was lost, that is, until tonight.

In the LDS church, there is a program where two men go and visit various families in the area to help make sure their needs (that families' needs) are being take care of. It's called "home teaching." My home teaching companion had me over to his place for dinner tonight. When I arrived I found my self staring out at his HUGE back yard. Since moving in 4 years ago, they haven't done anything with the back yard. Commenting on how jealous I was, both him and his wife turned to me and said, "Well - if you want it, it's yours. All of it. All we ask is that whatever you grow - you give us half." I mentioned that all it will probably be would be corn, potatoes, zucchini and snap peas. They said that was fine. They just want half.

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. This is such a great blessing in my life. The land needs a lot of work, which will make this that much more exciting of a project. I will try to get a "before" picture some time in the next two weeks, but as soon as the days get a little longer, I will have a whole back yard to my self. I am so EXCITED!