A Tale of Two Gardens

A Tale of Two Gardens

Posted by Heather Harris

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

I'm pretty sure when Dickens started to write the first lines of a Tale of Two Cities it was late August because never have his words rung truer to me than right now. I just spent the last week at "New Teacher Orientation". After 10 years of teaching I'm starting all over again. Yay? This meant that for three days straight, I was engaged in a never ending loop of the exact same one minute conversation each time the "Facilitator" cheerily said, "Find someone at a different table to share your thoughts with!" Each conversation went something like this:

Me:"Hi, I'm Heather."
 Teacher:"Hi, I'm _______ from_____ "(some exotic state like New Jersey)
 Me:"Awesome."
Teacher:" Is this your first teaching job?" (code for "Do I need to worry about you being better than me or are you a loser first year teacher?)
Me: I taught two years in Hawaii and eight years in Hillsboro (take that!)
Teacher: "Oh, Hawaii must have been awesome!"
Me: "Well it was challenging but rewarding" (code for, " I don't have enough hours in the day to explain that place to you, you silly person.)
Teacher: "What do you teach?"
Me: "Kindergarten"
Teacher: "Ohhhhhh." (Simpering sweet cooing sounds)
Me: Pray to God we're moving on to the next activity.

This was repeated at least 380 times during the three days and every single person Ooohed or Aaahhed  patronizingly when I mentioned I teach kindergarten. Now I never took the position for any sort of social or vocational standing. I know its a challenging, great job, with little societal merit, but do I need the cutesy sigh? I contend that I do not. The kids are cute, the job is not. Now don't get me wrong, the rest of the training was awesome, and I feel like it's the greatest district I've ever worked for already. But who likes meeting new people, especially colleagues, for three straight days?


The end of August is when I am reminded that I'm no longer a full time gardener, blissfully planning my day around mowing, weeding, hedging and harvesting. I am now a teacher, attempting to wrap my head around the needs of my students, family and garden all at the same time. The garden however, decides that this is exactly the time of year to pump out enough vegetables to feed the whole block. All of my hard work has come to literal fruition, but I'm too dang busy to enjoy it. Instead I frantically pluck beans, slice off zucchinis, and wrench tomatoes from the vines, tossing them into the fridge or onto the counter, hoping that somewhere between my cookie social, the kids' open houses and Greg's registration night I'll find time to preserve a hundred pounds of tomatoes.  Is it really possible that one week ago I was camping along the Clackamas with nary a care in the world? August...It's the best of times, and its the worst of times...