My son, “Buddy,” loves gardening. I know that he did not get his love of gardening from me because I can kill the heartiest plant. So my son takes care of his various plants and reminds me when I need to water mine.

One of Buddy’s favorite stores is a local plant nursery. Buddy loves to look at the different types of plants and learn their names. He always asks if we can buy a plant to take home.  He loves to visit the nursery so much that he asked his daycare provider to take the kids there for a field trip. Yes, they went.

The other day when I went to pick Buddy up from daycare, he was upset. “What’s wrong? I asked. “I…didn’t…get to…PULL…WEEDS!” he complained. I explained that we have plenty at home for him to pull but he was not appeased. His daycare person offered, “We can go pick a weed now if you want.” “I don’t want to pick only ONE!” This is where I flash forward ten years and hear this same child complain about HAVING to pull weeds. 

I’ll just enjoy my weed-pulling child as long as I can.