Growth is Magical!  Ok, maybe not magical, but it always feels miraculous.  I still bask in wonder as I witness the newness of life. Everytime. When my babies were born, my chicks hatched, my plants and flowers sprouted and bloomed… 

When I noticed the new growth on my grape vine plant,  I smiled happily to myself.  I am an ever aspiring gardener.  In this spot where I chose to dig and deposit my seedling plant, there is plentiful water and lots of sunlight.  

It’s next to the porch rail, making a perfect wall to train the vines for the future growth I hope for.  I dug a hole for this grapevine last year.  It’s alone right there with the dirt.  I turned each shovel full over until it was just the right size.  

I planted the twigs and dreamed of what could be.  There it stayed.  It sprouted a few branches and then went dormant for the winter.  This year the growth has exponentially blossomed. 

I marvel at the new sprouted vines and I stop to train up the new growth.  I gently guided the new vines, weaving them in and out of the porch rails.   I dreamed again of how beautiful this has the potential to be.  

I imagine the leaves and vines filling in the now bare spaces of the porch rail, filling it with green and lush growth.  The future it promises feels bright to me.  At that very moment I felt an intense joy in this little garden spot of mine. 

I felt the love and warmth of all the years my memory finds.  How I love to garden and cultivate, how I was taught the love of nature and growing. 

In that very moment that intense joy that filtered into me, I felt a presence smiling at me.  I thought, I’m so proud of myself, that I’m gardening and cultivating food from the earth.  

It is a beautiful process and I feel that someone else is proud of me for loving this garden.   The moment I had that thought, I felt it.  My Poppy was there, my grandfather who has passed.  

It was a feeling of sheer joy and unconditional love from him along with the delight he found in this life when he gardened.  He tended a beautiful and bountiful garden during his life.  

In that moment I connected to my garden, I could feel pride and joy. He smiled at me as I continued on in his love for gardening.  ‘My precious grandbaby girl, I love you so much,’ I sensed.  

The sunlight kissed me as I thought of his face and the memory of him filled all space around me.  A few hours later that same day, my mom called me to tell me that today was her dad, Poppy’s 95th birthday.

Awe… I thought as I remembered his energy surrounding me from earlier.  ‘Of course it is!’  I exclaimed to myself.  No wonder he came and visited me today.  

I thought of the Grandfather he was to me.  The love he always showed and how much fun we had during his life. 

May you connect with your loved ones this season.  Like this vine and me too, may you continue to grow and achieve your dreams and use the birth of this new year to create, connect and grow, so you blossom into the you you want to be.