Spring in Suburbia

Spring is here in full force. On the weekends neighbors are out in their yards weeding, mowing, planting. During the week days the streets are filled with various workmen repairing, building, and beautifying. The local hardware stores and plant nurseries are crowded and throbbing with eager homeowners. On our street it has felt like the frenzy during the holidays when everyone was putting up holiday lights and decor. Each day a neighbor seems to add more annuals to their flower bed or some sort of new lawn decoration. A neighbor down the street proudly displays the Yard of the Month sign from our neighborhood association. And I have to admit I can feel that competitive fire starting to grow under my skin. This is a new feeling for me. Gardening has always been a very therapeutic activity for me. I love to get my hands in the dirt. I love weeding. I love watching seeds burst out of the ground. I love the connection it gives me to both of my grandmothers, my mother, my mother-in-law, and now my children. I love learning from other gardeners and I love sharing this passion with my kids (although Camille is still at the stage of pulling petals of anything that blooms in her reach!). I love the sense of community and connection that can happen through gardening. I love the whole cycle of growth and the creative aspect of planning a garden. But this new feeling of competition seems so strange. Perhaps it is because I have never gardened in suburbia before? Or because I haven't been in a setting with "awards" for gardening since my 4-H experiences in middle school? Or perhaps it is my current stage in life and my own struggle to find some outlet for measurable success or evaluation since the kids just aren't giving me performance evaluations on a regular basis (beyond the routine complaint that I don't pack enough junk food in Noah's lunch box and Camille's frustration that I don't feed her chocolate on a daily basis). Whatever the reason I must be honest and admit that I now am working towards the goal of winning yard of the month! There I have said it out loud. Something I never thought I would yearn for or at least publicly acknowledge. I am blaming it on suburban spring fever.