Let the Wonder Never Cease

I have been talking non-stop about my green beans. They are growing like crazy. Here are some highlights of what silliness has ensued from them. One wouldn't think green beans could illicit silliness, but then one would be wrong.

1. My parents had a discussion they then told me about about how great it is to have a daughter who is so amazed by small things. Great, I said, you had a discussion about how I'm small minded and possible mentally retarded?

2. My first harvest was 6 green beans. I told people about that. I hadn't continued to bore them with the harvest numbers for each day after that, so my brother-in-law at one point said "She's excited about 6 green beans." He thought I was an idiot for being so excited about only growing 6 green beans.

3. I brought a few in a baggie to share with family. My sister asked if they'd been washed (she's particular about these things). I lied and said yes. She found out the next day I lied. I figure nobody is spraying pesticides on my deck.

4. My dad said "I don't like raw green beans." I made him have a bite anyway. He then said "It would be great if it was cooked."

5. My brother's girlfriend took a bite and said "It tastes like dirt. Can we cook them?"

6. My mother found a sign (a gorgeous wooden, painted sign made in Minnesota) in a store in Perkins Cove, Maine that said "Let the Wonder Never Cease" and insisted on buying it for me as a housewarming gift. I moved in February and she bought me a coffee maker then. (She often makes up reasons to buy me things because she knows I can't allow her to buy me a $28 sign for no reason. She clearly needs to brush up on her bag of reasons to buy me presents if she's reaching back 5 months to my last apartment move.) I refused to let her buy it. She asked the guy who owned the store to get it down because I wouldn't help her and she is too short to have reached it. Long story long, it's hanging in my living room. It's great. I love it.

7. I had given my aunt a dinner together for Mother's Day. We were meant to do it while she was visiting over the 4th of July. Scheduling prevented the dinner. I couldn't figure out what to give her. So I gathered some beans, tied them with a ribbon, shellacked the hell out of it and told her it was a little bit of wonder. She loved it.

I hope everyone finds something as simple and beautiful as green beans to get excited about this summer.