09/11/2025
Earlier this summer we planted marigolds in our flowerbed. They are one of my favorite flowers, happy little plants that always seem cheerful to me. And they were, until they were attacked by slugs. This marigold was eaten down to the stem, and I honestly thought it was dead. I gave it fertilizer and water, but there wasn’t much I could do. But as time went on, little by little, in sunshine and rain, that plant recovered. It grew deeper roots, new leaves and eventually one beautiful, defiant flower. And when I saw that flower, the triumph of stubborn over slugs, my heart was filled with such great joy that stays with me still.
I wanted to share the story of my marigold for a few reasons. This is a long post, so I split it up into parts.
The first reason is obvious. Sometimes in life instead of being able to grow and blossom we get destroyed by something over which we have no control. We are just trying our best to bloom, and suddenly insidious and implacable slugs appear, eat everything, and leave nothing but a stem. It isn’t your fault, you didn’t do anything to cause it, there just were slugs. All we can do is begin again, put down roots, grow new leaves and make new buds with the hope that they will bloom. There is no guarantee the slugs are gone, all we have is a stubborn optimism that if we just keep going good things will happen. If we just don’t give up, we can hope for better things. If you are dealing with slugs, it’s easy to want to surrender, to give in to despair. Just remember there is another side to the struggle, a side with flowers and joy. It won’t be what you thought it would be, but it will be good.
