The Greatest Reward

Life has many rewards. Depending upon your perspective, your focus for rewards can be quite different from the person next to you. Since I enjoy gardening I am thinking of the rewards that go along with this universal hobby. Although it could be an avocation, or vocation. For me it is good exercise and experimentation with seeds and plants.

I was greatly rewarded this morning when I went to my tall, healthy, productive Navaho thorn less blackberry bush. The berries are bigger and fatter then the biggest thumb. When they are completely black and shiny they are ready for picking. If the berry comes off easily with the tenderest pull, then you know it is at it's peak of ripeness. There is nothing quite as tasty as a bowl of these berries with a tad of sugar sprinkled over them. Adding cold milk is like icing on the cake.

Like most rewards it started with preparation. Three of the men in my life dug, tilled, amended and fertilized the soil until it was friable and ready for planting. Thanks, to Jim, Bruce and Reed this bed for blackberries was properly ready to receive the healthy plants I put in the ground. That was only last year. Not long at all to wait for the sweet reward.

I am thinking of all of the parents who are sending their children off to college this fall. These parents worked years in the garden of parenting to guide, direct, correct, affirm and cultivate their children. Now, their children are ready to step forward into a new experience of living away from home and being on their own. There will still be parental ties to be sure. But seeing these young people go forth with the best preparation their parents could give them, is the greatest reward of all.

Not all parents will be able to savor this kind of reward. For those who can, it is sweet indeed. It is well worth the time, effort , money and sacrifice invested in their upbringing. For all parents who are sending their children off to studies in a different environment, we applaud what you have done. We know it has not been easy, but we also know it has been well worth it all. You surely have the very greatest reward possible.