Flowers and memories

Some of you readers may know that my grandmother died about a month ago. Just a few hours shy of Valentine's Day, the long battle of osteoporosis and the very brief battle with pneumonia were over; she was 87 years old. I miss her immensely. The loss is especially real on Fridays as I drive home instead of heading over to her Oak Cliff home for take out food and a few episodes of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader or a game of Tile Rummy. The rosary, wake, and funeral were all very nice. The final goodbye still brings raw emotions to the surface when I think about a few of my cousins, and my sisters, as they buckled under the weightiness of such a deep loss.

When I returned to work, I found a sweet little rose bush on my desk along with a sympathy card from my co-workers. (Have I ever mentioned how AWESOME my co-workers are?) I took the little rose bush home and set out to create a lasting memory of my grandma. My parents took me to Home Depot to buy soil, rose plant food, and a few other flowers for potting. It's been about three weeks since I started to test my green thumb and everytime I go outside to check out the flowers, I get a sweet reminder of who they are for.

Here are a few pictures of the flowers over the last few weeks:

Marigolds (2/25/09)




Primose (2/25/2009)




Mini Rose bush (2/25/2009)




Marigolds (today)




Primrose (today)




Mini Rose bush (today) - poor little rose bush :-(




You'll notice that my little rose bush has not faired well. I don't have any idea how to make it better! It makes me so sad too. The other two plants are doing great though. The primrose is the cutest little thing; it grows so fast! The marigolds are very cheerful and have a lot of little blooms on the way.

I didn't realize something until after I brought the flowers home to my patio: my grandmother's name was Flora.

Two more pictures for you, Blogworld.

Flora Elizabeth Beauvais Thill (1922-2009)