Confessions of a Horticulturists

Dear Abby Lou,
I have a confession to make.  This year you brought home a little cup full of soil from school.  You told me that inside was a carrot seed and that if you watered it and waited patiently a little carrot would grow for you to eat.  You woke up each morning and went to the window sill to see how much it had grown overnight and if you could see the orange from the carrot.  We would water the green stems that had sprouted and place the cup back on the window sill and talk about how important it is to be patient for things to grow.  You were very patient, even when I could tell that some days you were a little disappointed.
After 3 months of watering, talking, and staring at your carrot plant, I started to worry.  I began telling you that sometimes plants don't grow and that we can try again, but you were very persistent. You very boldly told me "Mom, you have to be PATIENT"!  I knew that life lessons were being taught to you through this little tiny plant and that you would be heartbroken if a carrot did not appear out of the soil one day.  I also began to realize that you would probably keep watering the soil everyday of your life, faithfully knowing that one day a beautiful orange carrot would appear.
When we left to spend Independence Day with your grandparents you demanded that we take the cup with us so that you could continue to water it.  So, off we went to Texas with a full load of luggage and a little tiny cup filled with patience and love!  When we arrived to Grammy and Chief's house I placed the carrot plant on the back porch telling myself to remember to bring it in a few hours.  As you already know, your Momma gets distracted very easily, and by the time I remembered your little plant, the Sun had already gone down.  I fried your carrot plant out in the Texas Sun.
At this point I knew that there were two ways I could go with this.  One, I could tell you the truth and let you learn that sometimes life does not always turn out the way you want it to go and that mistakes happen. Or two ... I could super glue the dead steams to a baby carrot and bury it in the soil.  Can you remember which one I choose???

Those hard lessons will come soon enough, until then... I hope you enjoyed your carrot! 

P.S.   I love you!