[Starts w/ Basil]

I am a dreamer. I am a passionate person. And I have wayyy too many interests for any one man.

That being said, recently my fascination has been gardening. And No.. I do not have a garden, I don’t even have a potted plant on the back porch or a tree that I water occasionally but I have been wanting to build a garden for probably a year now!

Growing up on an apple orchard I was around plants and trees and getting dirt on my hands but I didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now. Until I went to college I thought it was normal growing up with 13 acres of apple trees and raising sheep and chickens, but to my surprise it was not so normal to many people I encountered.

Getting back to the planting. I talked about starting a garden. I considered buying wood from the hardware store or getting a lone tomato plant and starting easy but it never happened. The days went by and I felt like it was never gonna happen. I went from busyness to trying to catch up and garden was nowhere on my itinerary.

One day I was hooping it up with some high school guys and afterwards an old lady gave me two potted basil plants with like 9 little basil sprouts in each. She told me “Make sure to water them and once they grow a little taller take out all but 2-3 of the sprouts”.

I arrived home as giddy as a kindergartener whose mom surprised him with a snackpack in his lunch pale. I set the pots on the window ledge in the kitchen, gave them a little water then looked on them as any proud father would. I then said to them “Simba, one day all of this will be yours. Just don’t go into the elephant graveyard”. I didn’t say that actually, but I wish I did.

Anyways! Everyday I watered them, observed any growth in them, then walked away feeling like I accomplished something. After about a week or two I realized that they weren’t growing any larger. At that very moment I remembered what the old lady said to me “If you take the red pill then you“ ..No sorry that’s the Matrix. What she said to me about taking out all but a few of the sprouts.

So I did it. Watered the lonely looking pack. Observed. Walked away proud.

TWO DAYS LATER they were almost twice as high. No joke, they grew like crazy. So I watered. Observed. Walked away proudER. I kept doing it day after day. Now it’s several weeks later and I have some strong looking basil plants and I am well on my way towards starting my own little garden. Never despise the day of humble beginnings. I honestly think that getting these small little basil sprouts was the best thing possible for me in my quest to one day have a full, luscious garden.

I think dreams are the same. And I’m talking aspirations, not nighttime dreams, though those are awesome and I wish I dreamt more and could remember them. But with dreams [aspirations] sometimes we think they have to be this BIG thing or nothing at all. We are so quick to just shut off anything small if it doesn’t resemble the grandiose vision that the beaming child has of being John Wayne on top of the moving train with six shooters drawn. 

But that's a lie. Because a dream always starts with a first step. A leap of faith. Pulling out the other sprouts that are taking the nutrients away from the few things you are going to take seriously and focus on. Then building upon that. Believing in that. Watering that. Fighting for THAT.

So what’s your Dream? And what’s your Basil? Because I am going to have a garden one day. But if I didn’t learn how to take care of a few basil sprouts I’m not sure if I would ever be prepared to maintain a thriving garden.

May your love be strong,

Joey