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Peter in the Pumpkin Patch
Raising kids is an adventure any day of the week. But more so when a parent must witness profound loss on the part of a child.
Ben told this story to Mark just the other day.
We think there are lessons here:
Ben and his family live in Guelph near an allotment garden where, one warm day in May, Ben and 4-year-old son Peter planted a pumpkin. Anyone who has grown a pumpkin knows that, while it starts out small, it grows into a monster of a plant, usually with a pumpkin or two to show for its aggression. Which is why we generally recommend that urban gardeners let rural farmers to do the job: why consume valuable garden space with a pumpkin when you could grow a lot of other veggies I the same space?
Ben must have had other thoughts. As they say, “do as the doctor says, not as the doctor does”.
Perhaps the journey of seed sowing, nurturing, flowers, pollinators and eventually a pumpkin was, in his mind, well worth consuming his whole garden plot. Kids can learn a lot from this experience.
Fast forward to a day last week, when the pumpkin had turned orange and was ready for picking. Ben and Pete made a date to walk out to the plot to pick their prize only to discover that someone had taken it.
Now, if your heart just sunk a little, you are not alone.
Hearing the story for the first time I know that mine did.
So, Ben, being resourceful, sucked it in and said, “Don’t worry Peter, I have pumpkins growing on the farm. We will go pick one there.” A tearful goodbye to the allotment and a one hour trip to the farm: where the patch of pumpkins that Ben had secretly grown were rotten. Not worth picking.
Now Peter is in tears and Dad also.
Two broken hearts in the pumpkin patch
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This is where the story ends, except that when I heard it, I said to Ben, “I have a pumpkin plant with at least 10 pumpkins on it. Come on over and pick for yourself!”
I sent a picture of my pumpkin plant laden with fruit for Peter to pick.
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