Once Upon a Time, I Had a True Green Thumb

It’s funny how a random task can trigger memories.

I was washing the dishes from the projects I had going in the kitchen tonight – salsa, avocado bread, dried jalapenos, and the memory of me washing dishes at my home while growing up popped into the forefront.

I always seemed to be the one to have to wash the dishes, and of course back when I was that young, the kitchen’s only dishwasher was usually the oldest girl – ME.

One such night, I was not looking forward to washing the stack of dishes that only a family of ten can generate in in the course of a meal, so I decided to at least make the bubbles pretty. I dumped a lot of green food coloring into the dish water and proceeded to get into it. Once the kitchen was clean, I turned off the light and went to my room. Only then did I notice that my hands, from fingertips to above the wrists, were a bright green, of course the same color green that I had dumped into my dishwater.

Thinking back tonight, that was a hard lesson to live down, especially with ten family members, but I’ll smile now every time I go to my garden and assure the occupants of my meager garden that at one time, I DID have a green thumb.