We are Not Alone

After the sidewalk on my block was replaced, grass failed to grow in the clay-like topsoil the contractors used. I’m a passionate gardener, and a plant nerd, and this made me sad. Each day as I walked my dog around the neighborhood, I noticed all the places which had once been lush and green, where now nothing grew in the new soil. Winter came, then spring, and the bare patches stayed bare. I wrote a note to the city building department, mentioning that the soil they used didn’t seem to have enough organic material for plants to thrive. A couple of weeks later a truck came and laid a fresh layer of the same tan clay over the bare spots. I added a layer of leaf compost and shade-friendly grass seed to my own lawn, which helped a bit, but the bald spots around the neighborhood remained. Each day as I walked I composed a new letter to the city in my head, but never did send it. I felt sad, and powerless, and sometimes angry.

Spring turned to summer, and the heavy rains of late summer began. Something green caught my eye- an emerald green moss was beginning to grow on the hard clay earth. I stopped in my tracks. Nature had found a way I had never even considered.  These bald spots were not a problem I had to witness and solve all by myself. I had a secret partner who was working on it with me. Actually, in that moment I felt like I had 3 partners: the moss, of course, and our natural eco systems, and spirit too, restoring my hope and reminding me I was not alone. Whether you are a theist, an atheist or an agnostic, there are reminders all round us that the heavy problems of the world are not ours alone to solve; we have partners co-creating with us.

 It was a rainy year, and the moss grew steadily. Many days on my walk I bent down to watch its tiny, slow progress. I’d never paid much attention to moss before, but now I saw it everywhere, especially on rainy days. I noticed all the different varieties and how it fills in niches other plants can’t fill. Another year has passed, and there are still big bald spots on my block, even in the places where I regularly lay new grass seed and compost. But on rainy days the lawn by my sidewalk shimmers green with happy growing moss, and I remember we are never alone.