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I mentioned recently that I’ve been…weeding…the dry creek…and…I’ve made a lot of progress…but…right there in the midst of all the grass and weeds…is a zinnia…and…no…I didn’t plant it there…

All of my zinnias this year are volunteers…I’m not sure how that phrase got started…but…somehow…that always makes me think…is there a zinnia distribution center somewhere…and…they make an announcement…okay guys…we have a rather perilous mission…we need a nice pot full of you to grow over at this house in Alabama…you may or may not get enough food and water…mostly…you’ll be on your own…who’s brave enough to go…and…a few willowy leaves go up…and…there you have it…

Or…it could be that they seeded themselves…from the zinnias that were in that pot last summer…your guess is as good as mine…

Anyway…there is a nice large pot filled with zinnias in various stages of development…several with buds…and…then…there’s this little guy…right in the middle of the dry creek…that is blooming…a beautiful shade of red…and…I don’t recall having one that looked like this last year…hmmm…

Bertha…came along…just as I finished the weeding…and was admiring the blooming zinnia…she said it reminded her of an old saying…

Well…I thought I knew exactly the one she meant…bloom where you are planted…duh…everyone’s heard that one…

Of course…she corrected me…her old saying was…bloom where you are carelessly tossed by the wind

Huh…

She went on to explain…that it is easy enough for me to bloom where I am planted…be it a job…or…relationship…or…some other situation…that I have placed myself in…even if it isn’t exactly what I thought it would be…but…the truest test of…blooming…is…those situations that seem to come out of left field…that I haven’t had time to prepare for…that just sort of suck the breath out of me…if…I can…bloom then…I’m a true bloomer…I’m a little zinnia in the dry creek…

I think I’m going to spend some time…in Granny’s rocking chair…looking at my red zinnia baby…and contemplating her words…

I’m not sure…how it will all turn out in my mind…it seems pretty important…somehow…but…one thing I know for sure…I’m not pulling up…that little zinnia…not by a longshot…

Jane