As I was poking about to check for water requirements at mid-day, I spied something just under the mulch in one of the front beds: a single leaf of a Gerbera daisy that we had taken for dead.

Even though I know it’s only a single plant, when we take it into our environment, make the mental picture of what it will become in its context in our life, and give it as solid a start as we are able, I’m always a bit disappointed when a new planting fails, as we thought this one had. What went wrong? What might we have done more skillfully ? How can we do better next time?

I phoned Michael right away to let him know about the leaf and that the plant is alive, at least for now. (Everyone can use a “happygram” to get through the day, even The Coach.)

“So, it’s made it, ” he said. “No,” I said, “but it is making it. So far. For today.”

(I don’t like to overpromise, you see.)

It’s a useful distinction: how many people are looking for the moment when they’ve “made it” and no longer face challenges or problems or stress. “Then I can (fill in the blank),” they say to themselves. Yet the static sense of “made” simply does not emerge from process of daily living. “Made” is always “making” when spoken in the first person singular. (That means you should press ahead as best you can with the things you want to do when “made” might have happened, by the way.)

So, the little plant is still alive, even though dwarfed by its fellows, who were started years before and have deeper roots to draw upon when the stresses of the summer sun arrive, as they do each year. It is making its effort, just as they are, and may in time stand side by side the other Gerberas, indistinguishable from them to the casual observer.

But we are the gardeners, and we will know: each of us is simply making it. So far. For today.

Distinctions Life Design