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Saturday, October 12, 2024

Naperville Gardener – October’s Book of the Month…

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While searching my bookshelves for a book to share with you, I found Cultivating Sacred Space: Gardening for the Soul by Elizabeth Murray way down on the bottom shelf. I probably purchased it at a Naperville Garden Club meeting and forgot all about it. Now and then we have a little fundraiser where members can bring items to sell at our meetings with proceeds benefiting our projects and goals, including our scholarship program.

Beautifully written, Elizabeth tells about visiting gardens all over the world. She shares her experiences in a way that made me feel that I had spent some time in those faraway gardens, too. As she teaches us how to cultivate sacred spaces in our gardens, she also chronicles her love story with her husband who sadly died not long after they were married. She describes her book as, “a healing tale of love, courage and continuum.”

This is the first gardening book to reduce me to tears. The past year has been tough for me. Kent is recovering from the West Nile Virus back to pretty good health. Our sons and I were so afraid of losing him that reading about the author’s loss, I was reminded of how desperately Kent fought and at the same time a huge sense of gratitude that he is healing.

Then my dad died, leaving me and a house crammed with memorabilia of his 95 years and also from his and my mom’s parents and their parents, etc. And my latest loss is a divorce coming to a family that I love.

Elizabeth Murray has organized her book into seasons. Since this article is for the October issue, I began reading the autumn chapter where she writes that this is the season of letting go. For me, especially this year, this is a season of letting go. My dad is gone and his home, the only grandparent home my sons have ever known, now belongs to a young family who will make their own happy memories there. The people in the throes of divorce will find their way, saying farewell to previous dreams and moving on to new plans for the future. Elizabeth relates personal loss and looking forward to brighter days to life in the garden.

We know that the beautiful leaves will drop to the ground and the tree will be bare. But after a period of dormancy, buds will appear and we will be treated to a glorious spring.

When we are close to nature, we can find rest and feel ready to embrace whatever the future holds.

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Marilyn Krueger
Marilyn Kruegerhttp://www.napervillegardenclub.org
Marilyn Krueger is an avid local gardener and member of the Naperville Garden Club.
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