Just a little Rain

 Our grass is totally and completely brown, the trees are barren of anything that resembles a leaf and I am told this is normal.  

In Washington, the only time the grass is brown is if you don't water during summer.  The trees (they call it the Evergreen State for a reason) are always green unless they are one of the magical larches that adorn the Cascades with their golden beauty in the fall.  It is shocking to me to drive through our neighborhood and see the hay-like lawns and empty branched trees that line the street.

It is hard to adjust to the dead-ness of the landscape.

I have been waiting for the brown grass to turn, leaves to fill the trees, and some life to reenter the natural areas that surround me.  

I am still waiting.

But, there is some hope.  It rained the other day.  Not a lot of rain, but just enough to puddle the driveway and bring the much-needed life source to the vegetation. The grass is still brown, but the weeds are really popping up (note to self: call the lawn guy to weed/feed). Matt pointed out the tiniest little buds have begun to form on the hydrangeas and a slight greenish tint that seems to have coated the trees that reside behind our house.

It isn't much.  It all still looks depressing and dead from afar but the work has begun.

Sometimes that is how things grow and change.  It might just take a small mist of encouragement, hope, love, concern, or belief to get things growing again, and then life returns.  Maybe life returns to a marriage or relationship that was dead, maybe life returns to a dream that seemed crushed or impossible, maybe it is just a glimmer of hope that you are enough, that you are valuable and on the right track.

Sure, I would prefer the change to be dramatic and happen overnight, but right now I will take the baby buds, the slightly better relationship, the barely noticeable improvement in communication, and whatever small changes in my life because those microscopic shifts are encouragement that one day the pastures will be greener.