What is it about dirt?

OK, so why does it feel so good to dig in the dirt?

It must be a primal thing.  The touch of warm soil. The feel of sun on your face. The delight of flowers growing before your eyes.

Hours pass in the garden and I hardly know I'm there.  I fall into a kind of trance. 

Ah gee, I love dirt. I love it so much that I volunteered to dig up the garden at a health clinic near my apartment in DC. People keep coming by, and they eye me with the shovel, and some of them smile.  Some of them nod and say, in Spanish or English, how pretty it is.  Some of them take their children by the hand and point to the flowers.

Some people, I'm sure, like some of you, probably think I'm crazy. Who in their right mind would want to break her back on somebody else's garden?

But take a look at this, and tell me I'm crazy.

OK. I'm crazy.