I have a garden full of interesting and amazing plants. There are several fruit-bearing. We have herbs for cooking. When I open the gate to our yard, I’m met with the perfume of several fragrant flowers. Our yard is filled with birds – from brilliant blue hummingbirds flitting from between flowers, to blue and orange birds eating the leaves of our tomate extranjero tree, to doves eating the food from our dog’s dish.

As I was enjoying the perfume a gardiña flower, I realized there was one common ingredient to the health of our garden – water! During this season, I cannot expect rain to keep our garden healthy. What do I do? Obviously I need to water our plants. Our children are not going to mature without the right food, the right education, the right standards at home, the right love or the right exposure.

We have a large underground water tank – what good does that tank do if I cannot get water out of it? The owner of our home put in a pump and a pipe that directed water to the house and the garden. But what good does a pump and pipe do if there isn’t something to regulate the water flow? Our children thrive best when they know the rules and boundaries of our homes. They don’t want either unlimited freedom or unfair rules. Some of the plants in my garden are delicate and need a mist while trees need the faucet turned on 100% to give a real soaking. Our children are different requiring specific treatment.

How do I get the water from the outlet in the garden to the plants? I went to our local fereteria on Ave. America to buy a hose. Did I want the most economical, the reinforced one, or the pretty one? You tell me – it depends. Do I need it for a year or a lifetime? How much money do I have? Do I want to impress my friends? How do you determine the best conduit to get love, information, security from a source to your child?

How often do I need to water my plants? Some need a lot of water while others turn brown and die with a lot of water. Do we even consider how we enrich our children? Or are we too involved with our work, getting plastic surgery to have that “forever young” look, getting the latest gadget to impress our friends while our children are at home starving?

None of us are perfect as individuals – nor are our marriages perfect.  As we work together to maintain our love and a strong marriage, our homes will be a good environment for growing and happy children.