Weeding the garden

Here's the thing: Our family garden has a few weeds growing here and there. Like any family, we disagree, resent, compete and sometimes neglect each other. It's easy to do because we count on not having to earn the love of our other family members.

It's time to confess that we are not always one big happy family, and so far, I've committed some "sins of omission" in my blog entries. I haven't talked about the time Don wouldn't let me carry even one of the 13 stuffed animals he won at the fair just for the evening -- or the fact that Dad and I had some rip-roaring fights or that he was often cantankerous and controlling to a fare-thee-well. Lois and I spent our teen-age years bickering, while there were financial worries and the usual family disputes. I'm sure that the older siblings probably think Lois and I had it easy, while we sometimes think that they were favored. Oh, we could go on and on with this, couldn't we? We could air the dirty laundry and trade accusations, but to what end?

Yes, things could get loud in the Simpkins household. There were arguments and tears and hurt feelings and the whole lot. But what I think is this: It's easy to love what's lovable, but loving the foibles and flaws in another person is a whole different ballgame. The challenge is not to take the bad with the good: It's to love the bad as much as the good. When we do, we experience something that is transcendent, almost spiritual.

No, I don't forget the weeds. It's just that one man's weed is another man's flower, and weeds, after all, are sometimes beautiful. Just look at the photo above.