You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

Yesterday, I went to my parents place in the afternoon. Let me tell you a little bit of the background to this post. We live in Lahore, Pakistan- the weather here is semi-arid (as per google and I have no idea what that means) and it is beautiful these days. Spring season is in full bloom and I realized this when I went to my parents place yesterday. Their house is in the suburbs and my father is obsessive about gardening. We have a nice big place which is absolutely beautiful with flowers and fruits and vegetables.

We had a few of our relatives over, so instead of staying inside the little twinee and I decided to go take a walk. Whenever I go, I notice new changes done by my father. I began noticing the new pots with Petunia in purple, pink and white hung right outside our veranda. Then I noticed the entrance that he had made with more hanging pots and a wood structure. This made me notice all of the other things he had done. I noticed the pots that were fixed to an ugly boundary wall which made the wall look like a work of art. I noticed how big the mango tree had grown- so I asked the other twin to go climb it. It reminded me of the time I had spent there. I moved out of this place a year back when I got married but I had spent most of my life there; observing trees grow, trees die, trees cut down (which made my heart hurt).

20160315_162337 — The mighty mango tree and the little one

Both of us started talking about out garden and how it was different in our childhood and started comparing it to the present. I remembered how we would go to the plant nursery with our father and would often get upset because he didn’t buy big plants and instead opted for the smaller ones. We did not understand his logic. I also remembered that this decoration with pots was something he started doing now; he never liked it earlier. I began thinking how times change the strongest opinions or beliefs you hold. I pushed this philosophical thought aside and climbed the tree myself. I have loved climbing trees since I was a kid and I still find it very liberating. So we climbed the tree, observed the new plants that had grown, smelt the flowers, admired the bird and deer sculptures and just thanked the lord for this beautiful home of ours. I also realized how I took it all for granted while I was there; never thought of it as a privilege but now that I don’t have all this I crave for it. I wish to feel every bit of it and immortalize it in my heart. Here are a few pictures for your eyes- we hope you will love it too!