“I’m right here, and I have been all along” said The Box

Recently I was looking for the wire which I remember putting away in a “safe place” last year after tidying up from the wreath making workshops- I would be all set for this year! Have you ever done that? Put something away: gifts for a birthday bought months ahead while on a trip, the perfect gift for your friend and then when the time comes…well, you see where this literary device of foreshadowing is going…

It’s Wreath Season again…now where is that box?

If you follow along on my instagram account Greehouse.Hygge, you will know that my constant companion, a five year old golden retriever named Lilly has had planned knee surgery. A small space inside the deck door, in the kitchen where I keep my seeds, and a few garden related boxes that need to be somewhere have found their home here, temporarily at first- long term in reality. All this “stuff” needed moving to create a completely clear space for Lilly with new rubber backed mats on the floor so she wouldn’t slip and twist that heeling knee. Some stuff migrated into the kitchen next to Lilly’s food bin. We moved the table and two chairs to the living room with the seeds, some baskets of seeds, some corms…you get the picture..

For a couple of weeks, and here’s something I didn’t share on that visual story-telling tool – there has been a smell, something we cannot find, all cupboards have been searched, the back of the fridge examined- the dog given a sideways suspicious glance, where is it coming from? What is it?

Several times I have passed Lilly’s dog food bin, and then stubbed my toe, grunted, swore under my breath, ‘Ah that stupid’ white boot box, sitting under a clear plastic bin with a lid holding baking supplies — another temporary orphan from Lilly’s room.

Two days before this year’s first wreath workshop, I was giving it one last search before I would need to head out and buy the wire (it’s always a much sought after supply at this time of year and experience has taught me it’s also usually all gone in most stores by now).

Luckily, and you’ll see what I mean by that momentarily, luckily I stubbed my toe again. Okay this time, I’m moving it — what’s inside here anyway….

Right in the middle of the kitchen this whole time: plenty of neatly wrapped wreath-making wire AND a brown paper bag with dried up garlic bulbs from the nursery that must have gotten left behind and never planted. Two ‘mysteries’ – with the answers in plain sight.

If I were writing a children’s book, I would write it from the point-of-view of The Box trying to tell the people— I’m here. But with limited communication options as a box, smell would be used as a clue. Barring that, then hoping to get shifted when the dog food bin was moved slightly- perfect- it would stick out just slightly, and given that it is the same colour as the floor…it could become a tripping hazard! The humans, this one anyway, come across as pretty dense in this story. The Box did it’s best. In the end patience would be the only strategy while it waited for this woman to clue in.

So many times we can see something that is in someone else’s blind spot and we simply have to be patient until their own behaviour becomes so uncomfortable or unworkable for them—- that they make a shift. Then they see the thing they need and it was right there all along. All we can do is remain patient until they figure it out on their own.

If you are interested in taking a wreath making workshop this weekend– check it out here, we have wire….