Is it possible to find a hidden treasure in plain sight?

Is it possible to find a hidden treasure in plain sight?

One evening earlier this summer, my husband and I headed out for an evening walk. Just across the main street that runs through town and by the front of our house is a block with an ‘empty’ section on the corner. Except it isn’t really empty. In fact, while walking by that corner, 3 children rode by on their bicycles and one of the children announced to the others, “If you ever can’t find me, and wonder where I am, that’s where I’ll be!”

I’ve walked by that area so many times, but something about that child’s declaration drew my attention to things I had only barely noticed. I found myself remembering a similar area near my cousins’ house in the country where we had grand pretend forest adventures – and realized this space is no less magical. I’ve long thought it was lovely, and even now, in late summer as things begin to become overgrown, it has a way of keeping its charm.

I found myself wanting to know more – more about my neighbor, Mary Sue, and the space she has created on that corner. I put a note on her door asking her if I could learn more about it. She called and here’s some of what she told me:

There was once a house on that corner that fell into such disrepair the fire department used it for a practice burn. The man across the street from us and behind her house purchased the lot and parked his land-scaping equipment on the cement slab left behind. Because her yard had too much shade, she asked if she could plant vegetables in the sunny area west of the cement. He was glad to share the space, and over the years, helped her till the ground and created a path or two. He even brought in a shack and a fire pit for her use when customers asked him to remove such items. Shortly before his untimely death, he sold that corner lot to her.

There is a fading welcome sign she put up when it became hers, encouraging people to walk the paths or sit for a while and listen to the birds. Sometimes employees at the nearby clinic or hospital have enjoyed a moment of nature over their lunch break. I also learned there used to be a sign by the archway that said: “The Open Garden Gate.”

May Sue, who loves children and has none of her own, was especially hopeful that children would feel welcome. And here’s what I learned about the welcome she provides for them (and some of the things I noticed that evening the children rode by on their bikes):

·        small paint buckets which serve as stools around an old electric spool table beneath a canopy of vines especially designed for a pretend afternoon tea (the tea set is located inside the shack, and somehow the children know that.)

·        miniature fairy gardens complete with small houses, flowery plants and figurines. (There is a bucket with such supplies if a child wants to create a new area for the fairies.)

·        a pile of dirt with toys to drive or dig with also located just inside the shack

·        a bamboo forest to play hide and seek

·        paths for traveling and anything else a child might imagine

·        And…. Mary Sue’s kindness (She is known to have brought out real tea if she is home and children drop by the garden to play tea-time).

Her nieces and nephews visited more frequently when they were young, but the most use has come from the neighborhood children. One of them is the granddaughter of the man who shared the corner plot with Mary Sue over the years. She and her parents moved into his house when she was three-months old, shortly after her grandfather’s untimely death. That little girl is now 11-year old. She has played in the garden for years and still helps Mary Sue pull weeds and pick vegetables. Mary Sue uses those moments to tell her stories about the grandpa she was too young to remember meeting. (Her grandfather actually helped us plant new grass several years after we moved into the neighborhood.)

Maybe I’ll soon be telling my family if they ever can’t find me, they can go across the street and look for me just inside ‘The Open Garden Gate.’   

Yes. It is possible to find hidden treasures in plain sight – right in our own neighborhoods.