With the recent rains, the garden is really doing well. Then again, so are the weeds therein.

Yes, those weeds are getting fairly brazen these days, especially since I have been spending more time driving back and forth to the hospital than working to eliminate their varied breeds.

With much of my free time spoken for, the weeds feel no need to fear me like they once did. In fact, some have even dared to poke their heads up above the very potatoes. The nerve of some plants!

Even so, the reaper is coming. Whenever I go out to grab a handful of lettuce or an onion, I also take the opportunity to abuse a weed or two. With all the recent rain, it's been a bit too muddy for the tiller, but the ground will dry. I have also remedied at least one of my earlier garden errors by eating and giving away enough onions to make room for the tiller to fit through beside the carrots. Soon all the weeds will have to pay for their crimes.

In the meantime, I have been trying to spend as much time as possible with my father, who remains very ill but improving daily. I remain hopeful for his complete recovery from his current illness, but not foolish enough to believe any of us will be the recipients of bodies that don't wear out in this world.

My hope is that everyone be able to die with dignity and peace.

I have found faith and hope are sometimes conflicting opinions with modern medicine, which seems to be a symptom of our institutionalized care. When the doctors all knew us by name, they would have done anything they could for us. On the other hand, back then, treatment might include leeches, letting blood leak out of your knee or covering your chest with a poultice.

None of those are very effective for faulty gall bladders, which seems to be the newest contributing problem in this case.

I am very thankful for the expert care my father has received since he first became ill. Without that kind of care, he probably wouldn't be alive today. Of course, there are other factors involved as well that have lead to the care and the health he is currently recovering, albeit slowly.

I have found it easier to hear 10 words of a negative nature than even one of a positive. Most of the people who have sick family members at the hospital are very negative, I have found. "He's not looking good," a wife said about her husband. "I don't think he's going to make it." Since he's in the same ward as my father and I have been told that my father's the sickest of all the patients there, I wonder where she gets her information.

Another lady came up to my mother on Friday while I was sitting there and said, "I didn't see you yesterday, so I figured your husband died."

"That's not a very nice thing to say," I scolded her.

"Well, it's true," she said.

"Just because something's true in your own mind doesn't mean that it should be pointed out," I said. "None of us bode well with your negative way of thinking."

I went on to explain things to her and to say positive things, but first I had to stop her from upsetting my family. Some of them are already on a precarious emotional tightrope.

Besides, just think about the implications if we all said every terrible thought that popped into our minds. We'd be going around telling everyone something negative, like, "You're too fat for those shorts," or, "Women (or men) your age shouldn't dress like that," or even, "Don King just called for you and said he wants his hair back." Since such things as these appear so silly, why do people have no problem saying such inappropriate things about sick folks? I believe in saying positive things, or "speaking life" to my situation.

In a sociology class, I was taught a principal called the self-fulfilling prophecy that simply states, "Reality is what we say it is." Given that fact, I think I want my reality to be a happy place, filled with positive things and glad tidings. That really shouldn't be a difficult choice for anyone.

So every time you're tempted to say something negative, whether it is about yourself or others, try thinking twice first before ever speaking once. You'll be doing yourself and everyone else around you a big favor.

Get more tongue in cheek commentary this week's issue of the Alleghany News!

Email: allnews@ls.net