I’ve been making an effort to enjoy every moment of every day and not wish them away for a future event or waste the moments by living in the past. Certainly the easiest route to enjoying every moment is to do what one enjoys, the trick is to also be able to enjoy the moments when you are doing something you don’t want to do or don’t like to do or when you are in a seemingly impossible situation like being stuck in a traffic jam when you are late for something important. Perhaps the universe, collective consciousness, G-d, gods, or whatever cosmic chess player you can think of decided that you could use an exercise in patience…consider yourself and those around you modern day Jobs or Odysseuses and either suffer through it or make the most of it and enjoy the time, you are stuck just the same. For now, I’m focusing on the easy route and sticking to doing that which I enjoy doing.
One of my favorite pastimes is the cultivation of plants both outdoors and in. On a recent afternoon I had the pleasure of transplanting a potted plant and essentially releasing it into the wild of my small backyard garden which can sometimes appear to the untrained eye to be the botanical equivalent of a poorly managed Eastern European zoo. I like a more wild and natural garden and believe that free growing foliage does not imply neglect...I was never a fan of an overly manicured bush, hedge, or garden. Anyhoo, after getting the plant in the ground and watered in, I sat down to enjoy one of my other favorite pastimes, smoking a joint, while watching and waiting for the plant to grow or show signs of happiness in its new location.
Whether or not it was happy, I can't be sure because I ended up getting lost in the thought of whether or not I was promoting feelings of ill-will toward me from the plants by smoking plant material in front of them. I mean, do pigs like the smell of hamburgers on the grill because they’re happy it’s not them or do they suspect that they’re next and live in fear? If the pigs smell hot dogs on the grill do their assholes pucker? Is smelling any kind of smoke a traumatic event for a tree or plant, especially in California? I’m sure trees talk and there is a big ol’ ficus back there full of tales of partial amputations and abuse - both physical and emotional - by the hands, tools and machines of humans…it is a shade tree afterall. I didn't let it harsh my gig or anything and continued on, figuring the harm, if any, had already been done and that the lack of noticeable immediate plant growth in the transplant was either from a negative response to the marijuana smoke or a simple matter of my unrealistic expectations and not enough time passing for noticeable growth to occur. I did also consider that the transplant could have been a sadistic racist or elitist and been happy to smell the weed burn. Or maybe they all got the covid and can’t smell anymore so it really wasn’t a big deal.
I checked back on the transplant the next day, this time with a vape just to be on the safe side not knowing the language or customs of the botanicals. It seemed happy and so was I as I sat there just enjoying the moment.
Is there a moral to this story?
Yes, there is. Your time here is finite and unknown, plus you don’t know what awaits so enjoy every moment you have where you are. Also, unless you speak plant and have obtained consent, be mindful of smoking weed in the vicinity of foliage, your enjoyment should not come at the cost of another’s PTSD triggers.