Planted

Before Mom came home from the hospital after her last surgery, the Relief Society sisters came over and planted flowers everywhere. They brought pots and lined the driveway and the back patio with an explosion of color. When Mom and Dad drove in, Mom sat in the car and just cried because it looked so beautiful. On days that she felt strong enough, she would walk out or have someone help her out to the side of the house where we put some patio chairs in the shade so she could sit and look at the flowers.

Jack asked me if I wanted to visit the cemetery on my Mom's birthday, and I actually hadn't even thought about it. We grew up far from extended family, and all of my grandparents and even some of my grandparents were living when I was in high school. I went once to see my grandfather's grave in Idaho while we were there on vacation, but that was about it. My grandmother talked about going every Memorial Day to "decorate graves." She took flowers to her parents' graves, cleared away weeds, and remembered.

Jack and I took the kids, found a lovely little sage that will have brilliant pink flowers, and planted it to remember my Mom on her birthday. The cemetery is filled with huge trees and is well-kept and watered, and they provide water hoses and encourage family to plant things that will last longer and stay more beautiful than plastic bouquets. It felt good to remember that it's just Mom's body resting there. There are green, growing, living things all around it. Jesus lives. She will live again, too.