Opinion

It'll be all right

Friday, June 7, 2013

How many times in our life have we either consoled another person, or been consoled ourselves by someone saying to us, "It'll be all right." When plans don't go the way we envisioned them, or something disappoints us, it may be reassuring to hear the familiar words. Because when we become middle age plus, we have discovered often enough that things probably do turn out better than we thought they would.

An example of this for me has been the daily trips to Via Christi Hospital for Lester's radiation treatments in Pittsburg, Kan. When we first heard that it would be 20 or so treatments done a day apart excepting weekends, it seemed like quite an ordeal to make the drive each morning and rearrange our days to accommodate this schedule. But we have discovered that it has not been bad at all. As you read this we will be doing our final trip. It's hard to realize that four weeks have passed. In those four weeks we have discovered many beauties in our area that we hadn't noticed before.

The prairie is beautiful in the spring, and the route we take passes some either untouched or reclaimed areas of prairie. Each day there are different flowers showing in the fields, and what we watch for one day will soon change into another species being more plentiful in the next few days. Even with all the rainy days, there has always been something different and pretty to see.

I have been reminded that some of the so called weeds that my father and Lester both fought on the farm are beautiful. I have always loved honeysuckle. The fence on one side of our yard in Washington, D.C., had honeysuckle growing on it, and my father was critical of our neighbors for planting it. I loved it. We could spend hours sucking the nectar from the blossoms or just playing near where our movements stirred up the fragrance. The woods around the coal mining pits near Mindenmines are literally full of honeysuckle. The trees look as if the vines are blooming from every branch. I know it would be bad for crops, but for the wooded area it looks beautiful.

Another pest that my father fought was volunteer locust trees. If a fence row was left untended, within a few years some sturdy sprouts of locust would appear and soon there was a grove. But this time of year when they are blooming, the aroma and sight of the plentiful blossoms makes me smile.

We have an ugly catalpa tree in our yard that has weathered much hard use by children, mowers, animals and humans, but it still delights us each spring with the flowers and later in the year with its "cigars" that make good playthings for children. The tree also makes a wonderful spot for hanging bird feeders and the hummingbird nectar. The hummers seem to like the blossoms as well as the nectar in the feeder. So the ugly tree is pretty because of the fun ways we can use it. If it were a fragile exotic tree, we would have to be careful of its branches and not dare hang something from them. But we can enjoy our ugly tree and not worry about hurting it.

We have been fighting growth on the surface of our front lawn pond. During the drought years when the pond became lower, things grew in what had been underwater when the pond was full. Now the water level is at its peak and some of that growth has become a pest. (We are getting ahead of it now, however.) But as we drive to Pittsburg we pass dozens of little ponds left by the mining years ago. They are often covered with water lilies floating on the top of the water. They look great, but I know it would not be what we need on our pond. But it is comforting to see the beauty that water plants could bring to a pond.

And consider the bright little yellow dandelion. Its color and sturdiness should make it favored but most of us try to get rid of them. But I have heard that the leaves can be used for a tasteful drink and maybe even used in salads. So we probably should reconsider the weed as a possibly helpful plant.

One of our neighbors who had been used to a neatly mowed pasture when her husband was alive was dismayed the first spring when it appeared that there would be weeds showing. But one morning she looked out and saw a sea of blue flowers on those weeds and decided that if the area had been mowed on time she wouldn't have seen this display of color.

She discovered, as we have, that even if things aren't going the way we planned, there are great things to discover in the new set-up. Yes, It Will Be All Right.