Field of Dreams

Yesterday as we were out driving we passed a small house with a large piece of land beside it. My son Henry said, "Mommy, you would really like to be in that field". I answered him with the imagination of a four year old boy: "oh yes, Henry, that would be such a really fun field to run around in". Henry surprised me and answered me in mommy terms...."No Mommy, you would love to grow vegetables there."

Our home is in the woods. When a bad storm comes, I lay in bed picturing the tall pines swaying over my head. It is beautiful and lovely, but it is no place to grow a vegetable garden. I have slowly convinced myself of this truth by trying and failing three years in a row. But I never thought that Henry knew I cared about a vegetable garden. I thought this slow realization of my desire, grown largely by failed attempts, was hidden in the ground of me. Somehow my four year old has picked up on a value of mine without any conscious communication. What else is hidden in the ground of me that he can see? What things do I hold close that I am teaching him to value?