MASHA’S GARDEN

It was Sunday morning. I looked out the window and saw a beautiful blue sky. It looked like it was going to be a warm day in San Francisco.

Still in my pajamas, I walked out into our garden. When we bought our house in 1984, the backyard was just a barren hill with a cracked retaining wall and a small set of stairs leading down. It took us years to transform it.

One day, my wife’s mother, Mama Masha, who was living with us at the time, came home carrying a bundle wrapped in newspaper. While waiting for a bus, she had noticed it hidden in a bush. She picked it up and brought it home. When we opened it, we counted exactly $1,000.

At that time, we had many financial needs, but she said, “I want you to use this money to create your garden.”

Many years—and many thousands of dollars later—we now have a beautiful garden filled with mature trees bushes and flowers. Some we planted ourselves, while others seemed to appear on their own, as if they knew this was the right place for them to grow.

We all have choices about how we want to live and how we decorate our lives. For me, flowers are the essence of beauty. That’s why this afternoon I plan to visit a nursery and buy more summer flowers for our garden.

When we surround ourselves with beauty, our lives become more beautiful.

This is also why every morning and every evening I open my book, Reflections, and spend a few quiet moments looking at photographs of flowers. Their beauty fills my heart. It is how I begin each day and how I end it before going to sleep.

I encourage you to do the same.

You can find Reflections on Amazon. And if you ever want to experience extraordinary beauty in person, visit the San Francisco Botanical Garden. You will be amazed by its collection of flowers from around the world.

Until then, enjoy your life, surround yourself with beauty, and share it with your friends.

Three images accompanying this story come from Mama Masha’s garden.