Geraniums in the Sand

Last Saturday morning, early, when I couldn’t sleep, I decided that it was a good time to start a blog.  The blog had been on my bucket list of things to do.  I’ve always wanted to write but never took the time to sit down, concentrate and really write.  There were always places to go and things to do.  My head was always full of other stuff and never could get it clear enough to focus on writing.

There are other items on my bucket list, but for some reason, none were as compelling as this one.  For one thing, most things had to be done in the daylight, or during normal hours, not in the middle of the night while it was still dark.  I always imagined myself, getting up early, fixing coffee, walking around the house a bit and then, sitting down to write.  But this early?  It’s 4 am! 

What’s wrong with me?  I hate getting up early!  I was always the one who got up at the last possible minute to get ready to go to work.  I loved sleep!  Now that I don’t have a work schedule, sometimes I get up in the middle of the night.  But the best part is, after about an hour and a half of reading, I can go back to bed and continue my nighttime slumbers, which I usually do and let me tell you…that is the best sleep!  So, for this reason, I’m not fixing coffee. 

Anyway, I was hoping this ‘starting a blog’ thing was going to be easy because I wanted to get back to bed.  I entered ‘www.blogspot.com’ on the address bar on the computer and away I went.  

One of the first questions I was faced with was what do I name the blog?  Oh geez…now I wished I had made that pot of coffee.  But I got a glass of milk and some crackers and walked about the house.  I still had the desire to go back to bed. 

I looked out the window and the solar lights that I had outside were illuminating the geraniums I had planted earlier in the year.  Gosh, those are the most beautiful flowers, and the hardiest, I thought.  I always plant geraniums because they are so forgiving.  They are subtropical plants and seem to love when it’s hot outside.  During the times when I forget to water them, they seem to grow bigger and more beautiful bringing about multiple stands of flowers that started from one little plant.  This one had two stands but I’ve grown them before when they have had six or more stands of flowers.  I thought…they are so beautiful and so hardy…I bet you could grow them in the sand. 

Geraniums in the Sand. 

I thought about geraniums for a while.  Planting them in the sand would be cleaner than dirt and I’d have to fertilize them to give them the nutrients they needed.  I looked up Geraniums in the Sand on the internet to see if it could be done.  Never mind that I was in the middle of establishing a blog, my attention deficit disorder had kicked in.    

In my research, I stumbled across a poem, ‘Red Geraniums’ by Martha Haskell Clark.  I read it and thought about the poem for awhile.  I….love….this poem!   It’s about having dreams but staying planted if your dreams are not realized and thanking God for what you do have.  Click here to view 'Red Geraniums'.

Geraniums in the Sand.

After reading ‘Red Geraniums’, my mind wandered to another poem, ‘Footprints in the Sand’, by Mary Stevenson.  My paternal grandmother gave to me one year, as a Christmas present, a framed print of ‘Footprints of the Sand.’  This was in the 1980’s right before she passed away.  This is a special poem about having and keeping your faith in God.  The thought of her selecting this print for me, makes me smile.  I read it often and think of her.  Click here to view 'Footprints in the Sand'.

Geraniums in the Sand.  I could not get away from those words. 

My attention finally got back to the question of what to name my newly created blog.  I had decided that after all of that research and thought, the name had to be, ‘Geraniums in the Sand.’

I was so excited about the name that I never went back to bed.  I finished setting up the blog and posted my first story.  Bucket list item accomplished!