Growing up on a large North Carolina agriculture farm, I always had a bit of rebellion that I was forced to labor away at “Camp Tobacco” while my other friends were at the beach and enjoying Summer jobs at the water park where they could wear cute little swimming suits with matching hats and a whistle around their neck that made them look like an important authority figure.
A whistle was not part of the necessary uniform on a farm. Well, not the mechanical kind you wear around your neck that is.
“I wish I was not born a Farmer’s daughter,” I remember saying during one of my numerous teenage temper tantrums. (oy!)
Honestly, if I had been my poor Mama and Daddy, I would have traded me in for a decent horse and been done with it. 🙂
My sweet Mama, patient as Job, always said the same thing to me when I was in the middle of one of my Pity Parties for One.
“Bloom where you are planted.”
I’m not sure if she repeated this saying because:
a) She was hoping it would eventually make sense to me if it was reiterated enough. Or….
b) She knew it would drive me crazy, as it usually did. (which inevitably would be followed by a very well-rehearsed show of eye-rolling and stomping away.) Or…
c) All of the above.
With my Mama’s sense of humor, the adult in me (who now has a son and three grandloves) believes it was C: all of the above. 🙂
Later, after I had married my Knight in Shining Armor who wore camouflage and drove a Humvee, my Mama’s sage advice came back to play an important role in my life. Thankfully, age and maturity allowed me to fully grasp what my sweet Mama was trying to instill into my head and make my heart understand.
The Hubbs and I and my son moved about every two years, with the exception of when we lived in Europe for three years. Every two years, a new duty station and a new house, whether we wanted it or not.
To this day, I have a magnet that my Mama sent me shortly after we were married. It dawned on me a few years after she had given it to me, that in a round-about way, she was still repeating what she had been saying to me when I was a self-centered teenager who could not appreciate what I had.
The magnet simply said… “Home is Where the Marine Corps Sends You.” Or, in other words –
bloom where you are planted.
Well, as we are often warned as teenagers, history did repeat itself and I found myself on the receiving end of an eye-rolling, stomping-off-in-anger teenager.
I know being a military child must be one of the hardest things there is to deal with. It’s hard enough to make and keep friends while dealing with all the typical angst’s children must deal with, but to make new friends and finally find a place for yourself in a strange community and school, only to be snatched away to have to do it again and again… and again. I knew it was hard.
I also knew that my dear Mama’s insightful
advice from my teen years would probably be as well-accepted by my teenage son as it was by me.
From My Front Porch to Yours – Treasure Hunt Thursday
Debbie Pinto says
Barb,
I just love your sense of humor and fun writing style! Thanks for putting so much of yourself into your blogging. I also adore your beautiful home and so enjoy all of your pictures.
Thank you for sharing. Have a great week.
Debbie
View CommentDesigns By Pinky says
Loved the story and I do the same thing. I carry clippers in my car for just that reason:):) XO, Pinky
View CommentDebbie Pinto says
Barb,
I just love your sense of humor and fun writing style! Thanks for putting so much of yourself into your blogging. I also adore your beautiful home and so enjoy looking through all of your pictures. Thank you for sharing!
Debbie
View CommentValerie Smith says
What a beautiful post. I lost my mom this year and my grandma and I hear their voices in my head telling me what I should already know…funny enough I hear their voices alot while working in my garden and behind my garden is a field full of Queen Ann’s Lace.
Many Blessings,
Valerie
View CommentCottage Making Mommy
http://www.lovingmyheartandhome.blogspot.com
marty (A Stroll Thru Life) says
Such a great post, I love the story and I love your mantel too. Beautiful. Hugs, Marty
View CommentShirley@Housepitality Designs says
Love your summer mantel and Buck is one cool dude!!!
View CommentGee Singh Newbanks says
Hahahha… Luv this post! I cannot imagine growing up on a farm. Sounds rather idealistic , now, as an adult. But as a teen or preteen, not so much.
View CommentLuv your summer mantel. Miss Queen Anne’s lace. Don’t see around here.
Thanks for the sweet story.
Hugs, Gee
Botanic Bleu says
Love the story…the full cycle of life part, the jumping the ditch for wildflowers, and the beautiful red transfer ware on the mantle keeping the wildflowers.
Judith
View CommentSuzan says
When I was a younger woman I was, indeed, a ditch bank flower picker. For the life of me, I don’t know why I stopped! Last week I saw an embankment on a back road that was covered in a beautiful blue wildflower. Just a few years ago I would have stopped to see if I could determine what the flower was and take some home with me. Perhaps I just think that I am too busy now…which is sad. I think I will put a pair of pruning shears in the car today and clip some on the way home!
I love that little transferware pitcher on your mantle. I am a sucker for red transferware!!
View CommentSuzy Handgraaf says
I’m a Queen Anne’s Lace lover too, Barb. In Asheville, we lived next door to a field of wild growing things and my mother would keep bouquets of the stuff in our home. She taught me to put food coloring into their water and watch them turn the color of whatever food coloring was used. I thought it was the best thing ever! Loved hearing a bit of your heart in this post. Oh – Tuck says to tell Buck “hello”!
View CommentAnn says
Well I never knew my afflictions had monikers!! I have always had OCD and have always been a DBS and now find I am in good company. I recently bought a pair of black, rubber dairy boots from the big box store – you know – not the cute Wellies. I keep them in my car along so at a moments notice I can dive into the weeds without getting my pedi messed up.
I am coveting your pink transferware, too!!
View CommentLynne (lynnesgiftsfromtheheart) says
Such a sweet sweet post. I’ve forgotten to check the ditch for this sweet flower, if it doesn’t pour again today I’ll be heading out to be a ditch stalker! Have to love the grands and all their sweetness. fondly ~lynne~
View CommentInspire Me Heather says
Your mantle is lovely and your words are beautiful!
View CommentJeanette Chaney says
Barbara, Beautiful post, *wiping tears away* thank you for sharing.
View CommentDonnamae says
What a great post! 😉
View CommentAnonymous says
I have loved Queen Anne’s Lace for years. I was a DBS too. Finally got it to grow in my flower beds and enjoy it so much. They re-seed really well and I just let them grow wherever they come up.
View CommentJoani says
That was such a cute story and I loved it. Thanks for sharing. I’ve heard those same words over the years of my life and I just love them. Have a great week.
View CommentCynthia says
Barb such a beautiful post with pictures and words! I love the flowers and the transferware. The buck isn’t too bad either! I apologize that I haven’t posted about that beautiful tie pitcher I won from your blog but I haven’t forgotten we are just packing and busy with our move and getting ready to build. When I am settled in a week at my girlfriends I will post about it. Take a look over at Cloches and Lavender and follow us on our journey, I would be thrilled!
Cynthia
View Commentvignette design says
Cute story. Love your style!
View CommentSharon @ mrshinesclass says
Barb, this post gave me chills in the end. God has used that very phrase in my life as well.
The setting you described as you handed blooms to your grandkids sounds so charming…with the innocence of a scene from Winnie the Pooh.
Thanks for sharing this sweet story.
View CommentJen says
I love your story! It hit home in so many ways. Your spring mantle is beautiful. You have such a wonderful way of arranging things and making it all work!
View CommentShelia says
Ha ha! You tooooooo funny Ms. Barb! Your mantel is pretty.
View Commentbe a sweetie,
Shelia 😉
Stevie from GardenTherapy.ca says
wonderful sentiment. Thanks for sharing!
View CommentKathysue says
Sweet story Barb and your Mama is a very wish Mom indeed.
View Commentxo Kathysue
Anonymous says
From an Air Force brat who became a career officer’s wife (never say never is another great idiom), this post was perfect. You have given me a wonderful reminder to pass this concept on to my grandchildren. Your mantle is beautiful and Buck is truly handsome. Loved the bread bowl displayed this way. Audrey
View CommentDebra Oliver says
such a wonderful post, Barb, and full of wisdom. sometimes it just takes a little while for that seed of “understanding” to sprout!
View CommentCindy @ Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home says
So enjoyed this! Isn’t it amazing how “age” helps us “appreciate”!
View CommentThanks so much for sharing at AMAZE ME MONDAY, such a pleasure having you!!!
Blessings,
Cindy
chateau chic says
Love your delightful post with your humor interjected into a great life lesson. And beautiful mantel display with the Queen Anne’s Lace!!
View CommentMary Alice
Yvonne @ StoneGable says
Queen Anne’s lace is worth any mud and ditch! They look beautiful! What a sweet story! I am an Air Force brat and we traveled and moved a lot! I think that living in so many places made me very versatile!
View CommentThey flowers look lovely on the white mantle!
Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads says
Barbara,
View CommentI had to work in the garden when I was a teenager, but I would put on my bikini and work on my tan at the same time! I remember those days very well! I love your summer mantel but I love your story telling abilities even more!
One Shabby Old House says
Barb, I enjoyed every word of your wonderful post today. Tell me that you are a writer!
View CommentQueen Anne’s Lace takes me back to my childhood and the fields of it blooming alongside milkweed pods. I plucked many a stem to carry to my granny who lived next door on the farm. Your story stirred up some wonderful memories in me today.
Thanks for sharing such a well written story and I would suggest that you send it off somewhere because it held me there until the last word.
Becky
Judy Biggerstaff says
Great post, love the mantel and especially the red transferware, the vase is so beautiful with the flowers. Gorgeous pictures too.
View CommentBrenda Murphy says
I just found you, lucky me! I love the written word, and even more so when it is heartfelt. Thank you. Brenda.
View CommentRosemary@villabarnes says
Great post. Love the mantel, and the stories behind it.
View CommentKelly @ JAX does design says
Barbara, this is such a lovely story and a wonderful tribute to your mom 🙂 She was a smart woman 🙂 We’d probably all be a lot happier and content with what we have if we could all remember to just bloom where we’re planted 🙂
Your mantel is beautiful, and it’s good to see that Buck approves 🙂
View CommentArt and Sand says
Sweet story . . . Mama always knows best.
View CommentRoeshel says
Awe. So sweet. I read every word, Barb. I love your stories, decorating, bouquets and of course, Buck! 🙂
View CommentPat Cobb says
I really enjoyed your story. It made me go back to my days with my wonderful Grandmother. Thanks for sharing and give those sweet grandchildren a big hug for me. They are blessed to have you!
View Comment