Love Blooms Here

Image by Terrell Manasco

A green John Deere 870 model tractor is parked in a patch of grass just behind the pavilion, flanked by a group of holly bushes. To the left, near a grove of trees, stands a white-painted arbor, its latticework adorned with twin silver lanterns, one hanging on each side. Just beyond the arbor and to the left stands a wooden old-fashioned privy. Painted on the door are the words Powder Room. A little further down the path you begin to hear faint sounds that resemble music. Moving closer, the music begins to take on a pleasing, yet ethereal quality. Time begins to slow down. Only a couple of birds seem to be chirping now, their songs more mellow and subdued. Even the air feels different, as if you were moving through water. The unusual music continues, each prolonged note harmoniously blending with the next, creating an otherworldly symphony, carried along on a gentle breeze. For a moment you close your eyes, entranced by this sound you've never heard before. You find yourself thinking, Could the music in Heaven be anything like this?"Corinthian wind chimes," Frankie Robinson explains. Today Frankie is home for lunch and is relaxing outside in a chair underneath a pavilion at his business, Robinson Landscaping. Sitting across the table from Frankie is his wife Cindy.Robinson Landscaping actually began forming its roots when Frankie was a teenager. "When I was fifteen years old, I started working with my uncle," Frankie says. "His name was J.T. Bolen and he was in the excavating business. He decided to dabble in landscaping. He realized at the end of that summer that he didn't want to do that part of it anymore so I bought his equipment. I had a payment of $282 and some-odd cents in the tenth grade, in 1977. That was a lot of money back then. That's kind of where it originated from, just the love of being outside. I've always been an outside person, and Cindy is too. She loves being outside as much as I do. We had the retail nursery for years and she helped me run that."Although Frankie and Cindy both attended Walker High School, they didn't actually meet until 1979, and it wasn't at school. "We didn't even know each other then," Cindy says. "We met at New Canaan Baptist Church."Frankie admits he was smitten from the very beginning. "When I met her, I knew right off the bat," he says. "I think perhaps it was that way for both of us. We were crazy about each other.""He loved me because I was so timid and quiet," Cindy laughs. "I can still remember walking in Sunday school class and what he was wearing. And I remember thinking, 'Hmm.' " The last word is delivered with a curious inflection and a sly grin."I can't remember what she was wearing but...I was very attracted," Frankie says.Two years later they were married. "It's unusual for people to fall in love that young and still be together but we did, and it's been some great years.""I have two sisters, and we laugh and say we were raised almost Amish," Cindy says. "My mother and daddy were so strict on us. I've always said I think that's one of the reasons that when he asked, I jumped. I was eighteen years old, and I was so ready.""I think our lives actually began when we met each other," Frankie says. "From that time forward, we've really enjoyed our lives and adventures."The business began to grow, along with the family. "Frankie poured the foundation for the nursery the day I found out I was pregnant," Cindy says. Their two children, Emily, 31, and J.T., 28, are now grown and married, and last year the Robinsons welcomed their first grandchild, Gracie. Frankie chuckles as Cindy hurriedly searches through her phone for a photo. "She's sixteen months old with curly hair, blue eyes, and she is the light of our life," Cindy says.When they're not working, Frankie and Cindy love having family and friends over to their house. "Our parents didn't raise us that way, but that's something we've always done," Cindy says. "Early on we lived in this little four-room house, and I can remember having couples over from church. It may have just been chips and dip and a Coke but we loved it. Any reason to throw on a tablecloth and some food. We love to entertain.""I am the Martha in a Mary world," Cindy jokes, referring to sisters Mary and Martha in the tenth chapter of Luke. "Jesus is gonna come and I'm gonna be all upset because there's not enough food on the table, and I'll miss it."The Robinsons also love working in their garden in the late afternoons and on Saturdays, growing muscadines, blackberries, blueberries, apples, grapes, pears, peaches, and raspberries. "Cindy named it the Garden of Eatin'," Frankie says."We have two plum trees we've prayed over. We've gotten one plum so far in the last three years," Cindy says.Perhaps the most eagerly awaited event of the year is the horseshoe tossing competition, held twice a year. "We play for the bragging rights," Frankie says. "The winner takes home the Robinson Cup, but you have to bring it back to defend your championship. We've had as many as twenty-four teams at one time.""Competition is fierce," Cindy adds.The business has evolved over the years. It began as a nursery but has transitioned into a landscaping business. "One of the main reasons we had a retail nursery was, back in that time, plants were hard to get locally," Frankie explains. "We had to go to Mobile and bring them up a tractor trailer load at a time because there weren't wholesale growers like there are today.Thirty-nine years ago, a fifteen year old boy took a step out in faith and invested in landscaping equipment. Since that day, there have been some bitterly cold winters, fierce headwinds, and a few bumpy roads, but together Frankie and Cindy Robinson faced them all head on with determination, perseverance, and constant love. Today they have a successful landscaping business that has allowed them to enjoy a relatively comfortable life. And yet as desirable as that may be, true satisfaction has not come from the material blessings."When somebody has issues around their home, perhaps they feel like it doesn't look good or they've got drainage issues, they've been staring at it for perhaps even years and they're at their wits end....sometimes when I pull into their driveway I can immediately see the problem solved in my head, all finished and beautiful," Frankie says. "That's really where I find the satisfaction."A painted sign hanging over Cindy's left shoulder reads Love Began In A Garden. Most would agree that is a true statement. Sitting and listening to the Robinsons today, another true statement comes to mind:Love blooms here. 78For more stories like these, follow the 78 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/78mag