Additional Needs

Balm for the Soul

Posted by Carolyn Voisey on 20th May 2020 Additional Needs, Advice & Support, Disabilities

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It’s pretty much impossible to get away from current events – even with the TV and social media being avoided, signs of how different life currently is from the usual are everywhere.

One thing I am eternally grateful for, now more than ever, is my garden.

The garden was one of the main reasons we fell in love with this house; when we arrived it was mostly just lawn, edged by mature trees and an enormous laurel hedge.. now, its home to our flock of chickens, two ponds, raised bed vegetable garden and around 12 fruit trees!

Safe to say, it is my retreat when times are tough and a space for me to go and sit, listen to the birds, and chat to my Dad (who was a superb gardener, font of all garden wisdom and who passed away 3 years ago.. but in the garden he’s always here).

As lockdown starts to really bite – we’ve already been isolating since the first week of March due to Sams health – the calm and wellbeing I feel when I’m pottering amongst my plants is pure bliss.

When the weather is rubbish, I have a huge number of houseplants which serve the same purpose. There is something reassuring about how nature springs back to life every spring, previously bare branches suddenly covered in blossom and new leaves, daffodils flowering and the increasingly loud birds. Our two ponds are absolutely swarming with tadpoles and frogs, Sam thinks this is absolutely brilliant even if Daddy is being mean and won’t let us set up a small fishtank so he can watch them transform into tiny frogs..!

Yes, life is very far from normal and will be for a long time yet.

I’m getting to spend hours of quality time with my boy, planting seeds, taking him in his wheelchair down to the ponds to see the frogs and tadpoles, and finding out which flowers he likes/dislikes. He in turn is loving having both parents focusing on HIM.

Life has slowed right down. All of us are missing friends and family, his Grandparents especially; but how lucky are we to live in an age where technology allows us to connect easily with others?  Hopefully, when all this is a distant memory, we’ll remember live life at a slower pace and to make more time for the people in our lives. If this experience teaches us just one thing, I hope it’ll be to appreciate our friends, family and neighbours, and to learn when to let things go.