Today, I joined a friend of mine for some shopping at Ikea, Lowes, and Target. I'm not a traditional female. That is, I don't know a lot about gardening, color combinations, or, I hate to admit, about cooking. I've made do with pasta, rice, and cereal for longer than I care to admit.

With experience, I've learned to navigate the twists and turns that is Ikea. I know there are going to be lots of families, lots of husbands/boyfriends pretending to love the curtains their significant other's are holding up, and lots of Swedish Meatballs.  What I did not know is that the real lesson today was going to come from Lowe's.

After leaving Ikea, having spent $250, (clearly, one of the lessons learned in Ikea was not restraint) we proceeded to Lowe's. As I said, I don't have much reason to go to Lowe's. I'll join a friend in looking for paint colors, but I tend to choose  to push the cart and ride around like a child.

It's the little things.

Anyway, today's mission was to get some plants or flowers for our backyard. We wandered into the vegetable aisle and I was overwhelmed with all of the planting possibilities. Watermelons, Eggplant, Pumpkins, Zucchini. I had no idea that I could grow all of these things in my backyard.

This is a good time to take note to some things: I grew up in suburban NJ. Yes, we're the Garden State, No, I never had a garden. Or a farm. I don't even play Farmville on Facebook. I knew that these vegetables came from plants, but didn't know they could be done at home.

That said, I decided I was going to choose a Bell Pepper to contribute to the garden of vegetables. In my mind, I was going to pick the perfect pepper, bring it home, water it, and on Friday, I'd invite a few friends over for stuffed peppers. Easy peasy! I'd also add "Green Thumb" to my resume, because, I was going to have a massive pepper!

My wonderful friend listened to my plans for my pepper(s), but when he realized that I was talking about making my pepper dinner party this week, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Katie, no. These take 60 days, AT LEAST to grow. They could all die. "

I was speechless. Really? The pepper was going to take 2 months? 

That wasn't the end. 

I didn't know that growing peppers also required pots, soil, a watering can, and a perfect location. 

What in the world was I getting into? Who would have thought that growing a pepper took so much time and energy. Sure I could throw the plant into a cooking pot, sprinkle water on it, and pray for it to grow. My chances of seeing any progress would be very slim. 

Or, I could go against my need for instantaneous gratification, trust the process, and take the time to put some care into this project and be more likely to succeed.

I don't know what's going to come of my little pepper plant. I'm going to plant it. I realize that things aren't going to happen over night. I also realize that the pepper could die, and yield no fruit (or vegetable!). But I'm embracing the unknown for a change. I'm going to put my green thumb out there and see what it can do.

I don't think I need to make the literal connection here, but I will say that I truly do tend to deviate away from things that take too long. I also truly believe that I can make miracles happen. I can do a project in 2 weeks that would take anyone else 2 months. I believe I can function on 4 hours of sleep when I know that I need at least 7. I believe I can make a pepper with a 60 day growth time appear in 6 days.  

It's a wonderful world, this land of miracles I live in. Or, at least in theory. What ends up happening is a whole lot of disappointments and feeling like I failed when in fact I was swimming against the tide. Accepting that I need more time, putting in the necessary work, hoping for the best, but recognizing the possibility of not succeeding, I think will change the way I look at a lot of scenarios. 

Kudos, Lowe's. Let's make some pepper magic!