It's in the genes.

A few weeks ago, Man-squared left the house one morning and I didn't see him for most of the day. I don't usually worry about him; he's a good boy (boy?) and quite responsible.

When he came home that evening, here's the report I got.

A few days earlier, he had been talking to his youth pastor's wife (who has a toddler and is pregnant with #2), and she was lamenting the lack of a garden in her backyard. She's always wanted to grow vegetables and learn to can them, but she and her husband have no experience with such things and just didn't know where to begin. And that gave Man-squared an idea.

You already know he's no stranger to hard work.

When he left the house that day, he took with him our tiller and a few other tools. He stopped at Lowes to buy some plants and a 50-foot hose, and then went to the YP's house and got to work. He tilled a spot in the yard, planted the tomatoes, squash, and whatever else, and watered them well, all while training the dog to stay out of the garden.

YP and his wife never knew he was there, but they have their garden now.

The reason this event is significant (and my mother is probably tearing up now) is that my grandfather (her daddy) used to do the same thing. He would go to somebody's house, plant a bunch of bulbs in the fall, and never tell anyone he'd been there. In the spring, up would pop beautiful flowers, and people would wonder where they came from. Or we would come home from school one day to find a bushel basket of peaches on the porch, or a 50-pound bag of potatoes. He just did these things without ever telling anyone. He went about doing good.

And though Man-squared never met his great-grandfather and grew up in a completely different lifestyle, I can say without a doubt that, even three generations removed, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Be thankful ~

Karen