There are Green Beans in the Garden

rows of green beans

 
   Ah, the rewards of hard work. Green bean plants are producing plenty of beans for both cooking and freezing. It is so exciting to finally see the rewards of our hard work; weeding, watering, mulching, and tending. Sometimes, in the midst of the sweat and the dust, we lose sight of the goal. Then, just in time, the blossoms give way to delicious and healthy foods. 
   Sitting here this afternoon snapping yummy green beans reminds me of summer afternoons with my grandmother in Kansas. We would sit in metal lawn chairs at the side of the house near her garage. Do you remember those vividly colored retro lawn chairs? Those metal chairs would scorch the skin right off your legs! To deter this, my grandmother would lay a multicolor braided rug over them before sitting down; funny how that memory sticks. Five gallon buckets at our feet and old flecked mixing bowls in our lap, we snapped hundreds of green beans for dinner that night and for canning up the next morning. Crickets would begin to chirp and the sun would set...days end had come.
   I sure don't remember there being as many mosquitos then as I am swatting now; maybe that is just romanticizing the memory. Yet here I sit today, at the corner of my own house on a wooden glider- no rug needed- those five gallon buckets are at my feet and old mixing bowls are in my lap. My children are gathered round me: one is sketching, relaying events of her day; one is studying, big reading assignments from her class today; one is eating more beans that he's snapping, isn't that just like a boy? We are together, and one day they will remember this moment with me...at the end of day. Memories are made from the little things in life..like snapping beans and sharing stories..or being together as the sun sets and the crickets come to serenade. Wonderful moments are these. Praise the Lord, there are green beans in the garden!

simplychele