Roots

It's summer here in Jersey and the heat is on. Our air condition is on too, fireflies light the garden in the evening and the neighbors tend to their yards fiercely. New flowers bloomed, backyard pools opened and the trampolines have sprang.

With all that outside, I'm reading Meir Shalev's book 'Hadavar Haya Kacha' or 'My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner' - family stories from Nahalal and Jerusalem. A lot of the family idioms and 'histuar' reminds me of my own and I think about the stories my kids will have as their bank-of-memories when they grow up. What will their roots sound like in their mind 20 years from now? 30? 40 years from now?

Outside the neighbour's plants just arrived, some of them are trees. I like the site of those trees, all luscious green, standing by in their cloth and string packaging, looking so fresh, so promising.
I point them out to my daughter: "Look," I say "how lovely these trees are" than I try to figure out for myself what draws me to this sight, what's so beautiful about it, and I say "these trees are wrapped so nicely, look at their roots, packaged neatly and tight in that cloth bag so they can be re-planted!"

Stay cool, tend to your roots.
Yours truly,
Sara Brown.