Nothing more urgent.
Tonight I sat down at a neighbor's (beautiful) nursery that I always drive by but rarely stop. Out of respect for them and their privacy, I'll exclude their name.
Their setup is the kind of thing some folks would call "super messy". And that's fair I suppose, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz 😉
Me? I dig the vibe, it's groovy. It's beautiful. Full of life and realness. I don't think nature fits in these neat little boxes or cubicles or labels.
Nature doesn't have a manager.
And I see so much life, nurture, and care put into it.
What I drove away thinking about wasn't only the plants though.
It was the simple, honestly human conversation.
This human being was vulnerable so instantly, which I respect so much. Just... human to human. Neighbor to neighbor. Friend to friend, whatever the "proper" phrase is. We talked about our pains, our sufferings, existential questions, things we've both been through, things we haven't. A real honest, deep, and open discussion of two neighbors. Both openly and truthfully vulnerable. AND, I got to learn a bunch of new things which was a huge gift to me.
At one point one of us said something like "if I need to get going, if I'm bothering you, I'm more than happy to go." I don't recall the exact phrase, doesn't matter, not about me.
I had this moment of wonderful clarity.
In that moment I could think of nothing at all more urgent than sitting down next to all these beautiful plants they put so much care into and just listening. TRULY listening, learning, and accepting. Then, being able to share my experience... well...
It was so helpful. It was like medicine for my entire being.
And it really, truly is my hope that anyone reading who views vulnerability as a weakness... perhaps consider it may just be the exact opposite.
I think it takes a lot of courage to be that open.
Thank you neighbor. Thank you for reminding me what courage means to me,
--Drew 🪷
