I say Tomato, you say Tomahto

I found the first red tomato in our garden today!  It was quite the find.  After all, when you work so hard for something and finally see results, the joy overflows.

There was something unique about my first tomato. It reminded me of myself.

You see, it wasn't quite what I had pictured.  It was small.  It had markings of imperfections.  It was slightly dirty.  I could tell it had 'weathered' the test of time.

But, it was my first tomato.

This tomato had quite the journey to get to my mouth:

• It started as a small seed.  I planted it indoors in late March/early April.  I then transplanted it into the garden in June.  Still it was just a small two inch plant.  
• It withstood the floods of June.  
• It grew, even though weeds tried to entangle it.  
• We then worked so hard to mulch the garden and suffocate the weeds.  I found myself being so protective of my little plants.  They were so cute as they grew!

So, finally today, September 5, 2014, I picked my first tomato.

And while, this tomato wasn't perfect, neither am I!

It was still worth the journey - floods, weeds, mulching, dirt and all!

And in the end it was sweet and felt like a long awaited gift to me :)

Can you relate?