学进去

I have a neighbor we call “Happy”. I have never seen her angry at anything and never heard her say a harsh(苛刻的) word to anyone or about anyone.

Happy and her husband Ben, 70, have a huge garden. They spent many happy hours together working on it. Most of the neighbors watched interestingly as Ben doubled the size of their garden. As the cost of food climbed faster than Ben’s beans, we all wished we also had such a large garden. As the rest of us spent our dollars at the market, Happy could be seen picking beans in her back yard.

Last month, Happy and Ben invited most of the neighborhood over for an “all-day food festival”. We were told to bring gloves and arrive very early in the morning. We didn’t know what was about to take place.

By 9:00 am, there were nine of us in the garden picking tomatoes, beans, okra(秋葵), and squash. By 10:00 am, there was lots of laughter. We shared a lot of stories. By five o’clock, everyone was a little drunk from the wine and beer. After dinner, we played games. As we were leaving, Happy and Ben handed each of us a shopping bag filled with the bounty of the day, already packaged and frozen. What a delightful gift!

Well, the point wasn’t so much about the food. The true gift was a day of friends enjoying one another’s company. None of it would have happened if it had been for Happy and Ben’s garden. Now they have a blog about gardening in case we decided to plant a garden. And I am so proud of my tomato plants!