Winter is close at hand, but the flowers I planted in the spring in front of my house still have a few pretty yellow blooms on them.

I spent considerable time last winter trying to plan some upgrades to my landscaping. I wanted lots of color, lots of variety, and something that I could be proud of when I pulled in the driveway.

I have to put it out there that I can barely dress myself (some might say that I can’t!). While I can appreciate fine design and I recognize when things look good together, I find it impossible to understand how they get that way.

I may have a little bit of a music gene, I have absolutely no design or decorating gene.

So I spent the winter pouring over books and online guides about what goes where, how they all go together, and how to make things look good.

None of it worked. By spring I was no closer to a plan than I was when I cracked open my first landscape design book the previous winter.

I was frustrated. My landscaping was a source of frustration, and (in my opinion) an eyesore.

Then one Saturday early in the spring I went to the public market downtown. It was a cold, sunny morning and the market was packed.

As I wandered around taking it all in, one vendor caught my eye. She had all kinds of plants laid out, all different colors, sizes and shapes and suddenly it hit me! I don’t need a plan! I don’t need to keep overthinking this situation. I just need to grab a bunch of these plants and put them in the ground!

So I did. I spent every penny of the $20 I had in my pocket and ran home excited to put my haul into the ground.

At home, I put my anxiety aside, grabbed a trowel, and started planting. My only rule was not to put two plants of the same color next to each other.

Before I knew it, I was done! $20, and 20 minutes had erased months of searching, pondering, planning, and worrying.

Best of all, when I stepped back and looked at what I had done, I was very happy. My heart felt warm, the colors brought more happiness than I would have thought possible.

And throughout the summer, every time I passed the front of the house, I got to look at all those colors. I watched the little plants grow into big plants with more flowers and more colors.

I worked very hard this past summer, many long days, many miles driven, and quite a bit of time away from home. But every single time I pulled in the driveway and saw those colorful flowers, I felt better. I felt happy. I felt at peace in that moment. They seemed to be a beacon reminding me that I was home and everything is ok.

So money can buy happiness. In this case, a measly $20 bill, and it was happiness that repeated itself over and over again during the past 6 months.

Winter is close, so today I’ll be pulling out the flowers and cleaning things up to prepare, but I’m already looking forward to the spring when I can return to the public market with $20 and buy some more happiness.