Wednesday 18 October 2017

Maternal Solicitude ...

When the children 'phone , you naturally want to hear all their news , so you ask about what's been going on . How are their children , partners , partners' parents , work , their friends , the cats , the garden  ? ...  yes , being related to me must be like being picked up by the KGB .

It's an empty nest thing , I suppose . For some reason it took me ages to get used to not knowing what they were wearing that day , once they'd left .
A fully furnished picture of their home life makes them seem nearer .

And now Younger Daughter has introduced a further character ... After years of showing no interest in gardening or of growing anything at all , she now has a plant .
So now , of course , every week I'm also asking after Mint . Together we glowed as she reported that it had two new "branches" ( she's still not mastered the jargon but it's just a question of time ) ...

Now , as long as I don't start saying , "And how's Minty this week ? "...


7 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

Tea-mendous?

Debra She Who Seeks said...

That is one nice looking mint plant! Do you think of it as a grandchild? lol

materfamilias said...

Very wise to begin with such a resilient plant (I won't say "indestructible" because clearly, that's just courting trouble)

rachel said...

They phone you??? How lucky are you! My son and daughter in law send very occasional texts, usually ignoring any questions, and have no understanding at all of how little I know of their daily lives. Mind you, they are both rather poor at keeping each other informed too, so perhaps I shouldn't complain!

Friko said...

What will you and she do in the winter when the mint disappears underground? More empty nesting?

I wonder, are you on your own now too? You let slip between the lines that your husband was ill quite some time ago. Will you stay in Holland? If they go on messing about with Brexit I might feel tempted to relocate to the continent. It would be very difficult after more than half my lifetime in the UK.

Liz Hinds said...

It all seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Jenny Woolf said...

At least you know what to get her for Christmas - an oregano plant in a pot would be a very nice companion for Minty - I mean, for her mint plant. Not that it needs a companion of course..... :D