My husband’s grandpa, Lewie, had a heart attack and it is difficult to absorb. As much as I’d like to be Zen about death, I always panic and feel regret about whatever it is that I didn’t do to maximize my experience with that person. I don’t know how to not feel this way or if I am supposed to just feel this way. Either way, it’s hard.

Dolly and Lewie are gardeners. Every time we visit their home in central Montana, we leave with bellies full of grilled cheese sandwiches and edible goodies to take home. In the winter we get Special K candies (I promise to post this recipe). In the summer we get carrots pulled right out of the earth and Special K candies. Dolly grows the most amazing zinnias in all of Montana.

Gardeners are tough and adaptable. They work through the challenges of a late frost, aphids and blossom end rot. Gardeners readjust their methods and rotate their crops; they keep on keeping on. One season may yield scrawny radishes, but it can also be the tomato harvest of a lifetime.