Native Son: There Was a Time
There was a time when the great Notre Dame Cathedral was just a dream…graphite lines on a piece of parchment.
There was a time when the tallest redwood tree was a tiny seedling.
There was a time when the Grand Canyon was just a tiny creek bed.
There was a time when there were no gardens.
There was a time when there were no flowers.
There was a time when there were no trees.
There was a time when there were no animals.
There was a time when there were no fossils.
There was a time when there was no coal…or diamonds.
There was a time when there were no mountains.
There was a time when you did not take a few moments to simply stop and breathe in Spring.
There was a time when the wildflowers were not painting the meadows.
There was a time when the perfume of bluebonnets didn’t fill the air.
There was a time when hummingbirds didn’t visit your garden.
There was a time when butterflies didn’t come out of nowhere to pollinate your flowers.
There was a time when poppies, bluebonnets, iris, and roses weren’t all blooming at the same time.
There was a time when song birds didn’t surprise you with an unexpected visit.
There was a time when children didn’t become lost in the simple beauty of a daisy.
There was a time when you were the child lost in the beauty of a daisy.
There was a time when you were so busy with the workaday world that you didn’t stop for a few minutes to notice the wondrous miracles of Mother Nature that are happening all around you at this very moment…but now you’ve come to realize how precious that is.
There was a time I’d just edit out the excess junk I wrote while composing an article, but I thought you might actually enjoy this stuff…
There was a time when it cost you 50 cents every time you took a photo.
There was a time when Greg Grant and I weren’t texting each other at 4am while writing articles.
There was a time when Greg Grant hadn’t planted/hybridized/discovered anything.
There was a time when Neil Sperry was just a goofy kid growing up in College Station, Texas.
There was a time when Neil and Lynn Sperry had to wash dishes in their bathtub.
There was a time back in 1977 when I spent four hours talking to a girl on the phone…and the long-distance bill was $102.
There was a time I hadn’t discovered coffee.
There was a time when nobody had discovered coffee…or chocolate.
There was a time when that third beer didn’t put me to sleep.
There was a time when my body didn’t make popping sounds when I got out of bed in the morning.
There was a time when I could leave Houston at midnight and still make it to work in Fort Worth by 7am.
There was a time I could drive from Fort Worth to San Diego in 21 hours.
There was a time when I rode around with a 2-gallon pump sprayer in the front seat of my truck so I could cool off that stupid electrical fuel pump when it got hot and stopped working.
There was a time when there was no McDonald’s, Sears, Starbucks, or Disneyland.
There was a time when the Thousand-year Rose re-sprouted after being bombed during WW2.
There was a time all bananas were full of hard seeds.
There was a time when a guy named Munson in Denison, Texas, saved the entire European wine industry.
There was a time I pronounced that plant, “Cotton Easter.”
There was a time when it didn’t bug me when someone called me a “horticulturalist.” (I contend that’s not a real word.)
There was a time when I got my eGardens article to Gretchen by deadline…but this sure isn’t it!
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I need a road trip! Let me know if you’d like me to come and speak to your group sometime. I’m low maintenance, flexible, and you know I like to go just about anywhere. No city too big; no town to small. Just send me an e-mail at stevenchamblee@yahoo.com and we’ll work something out.
Come out and see me at Chandor Gardens! Located in the heart of Weatherford’s Historic District, Chandor Gardens is the perfect place to get away and enjoy the simple pleasures of life that can only be found in gardens. Call 817-613-1700 or visit www.chandorgardens.com for details.