Confession

 

I was taken in – the television commercial about the wonderfully light, transportable, retractable hose got me. This might be the answer to recurring wrestling match I have with the garden hoses, I thought! Tugging and hauling and then tripping over them is not as much fun as it used to be – especially since I learned a friend lost her round with her backyard hose and fell, breaking a hip and her wrist! So, I ordered two hoses and bought several for my kids and friends.  The hose seemed so sensible and inexpensive I simply had to share it – but those hoses had a design flaw – one that had been pointed out by other buyers on Amazon, but one I ignored. 

Instead of brass fittings, the lightweight hose had plastic connectors, unable to withstand the “pressures” of watering a few flow beds. Therefore, when watering the plants, I got watered, as water gushed from the connectors.  Then I pictured our kids and friends being similarly drenched – and winced. Some gift!

What I hoped would be helpful turned out to be a hassle. The amazing hose I thought could minimize the risk of falling, and make watering easier for others just showed me: don’t give cheap solutions to real problems – especially when a multitude of people before me, said This is doesn’t work!  But, so enamored was I with the hose’s possibilities, I ignored the warnings: save your money!

Wrestling again with my cumbersome old hose this morning, I wondered what the little lessons were in this little debacle. I saw three – clichés, maybe – but good goads, nonetheless:

1.     Some things that look so good may be too good to be true. 

2.     Learn from other people’s experiences instead of repeating them.  And,

3.     Gardening, including its choice of tools – like life -- may convey risks among its many rewards.* 

And maybe I see a subsequent lesson: beware of giving cheap gifts assuming they might solve other gardeners’ problems. 

*Rewards of gardening that others describe well:

·      Gardening is not a rational act. ~Margaret Atwood

·      Hope never dies within a true gardener’s heart. ~author unknown - 

·      You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. ~Author Unknown