I opened my eyes and felt a confusion as the world seemed black & white on a day promised sunshine.
I had to go in search of the color.
And looking outward I saw a floral firework display against the sodden green.
Such intricate beauty and color – sought and found!
This afternoon we went to pay respect to the life of an older friend. In these last years that I have known her, her conversation would always flow to family and festivities and the cakes she would be baking. The list of cakes would sometimes include a 1,2,3,4 Cake and always a Hot Milk Sponge Cake, both of which would make me yearn for my mom’s cakes. So we would talk cake and Brownies – actually, she would do the talking, I rarely bake and no one is going to give my cakes rave reviews – just saying. I never had an opportunity to sample her baking but I always had a sampling of her heart in the joy and love radiating from her as she anticipated the occasion.
So I talked about cake today and watched eyes fill with memories and tears and heard again of the Hot Milk Cakes. I also listen for stories and today I heard, “She was very old school and wrote letters and cards for everyone. No one does that these days.”
When it was time to leave I noticed an amazing assortment of beautiful hanging baskets of flowers. In an unusual and gracious gesture, her sons had purchased these for their visitors to take home, to remember.
So, in remembering LaRue, I share my flowers and I write to you.
Peaceful dreams to you this night.
I am so grateful for the unplanned beauty that springs up in the summer garden.
My carefully chosen petunias from the garden center failed to thrive. But these impatiens have sprung up in their varied shades reminding me of gardens past and pulling color into my days. I’ve learned to look for the little seedlings and move some from harm’s way but most are just where they planted themselves.
My mother grew these in her gardens and I remember how the grandchildren loved the fun of the seed pods. A little push on a ripening one and it would burst open, seeds scattering!
Some years I have planted them in my own garden and while they will seed themselves, I can never resist popping a pod or two. Then I forget them until another summer comes and flowers surprise me with lovely color tucked into places I would not plant.
I love that my life can be like that too. My carefully chosen plans can fail to thrive, but then…the wonderful color and life that can spring up in unexpected places. Sometimes I just need eyes to see the seedlings, patience to see the blooms, and trust in the scattering of seeds.