This is good news--the last year has been difficult. Not only has she had to contend with a debilitating illness, but also she divorced my father last summer. She's felt a bit adrift of late.
And then the garden catalogs stopped coming.
Ever since I can remember, she's awaited the spring catalogues--just like her father before her. In fact, the last time she visited his grave--just as her disease was tearing into her joints, she left a tiny bit of a Park Seed catalog cover on his gravesite. To keep it in place, she put a rock on it.
Now to the average person, that might seem...odd. But it's really perfect. From all that I know about him (and he died when I was wee), he'd have loved the gesture. And I like to think when we all undertake The Big Dirt Nap, we'd be tickled to know someone remembered what we loved. (He would want it noted that he preferred Burpee.)
It's because of that bond to him...the memory of lingering over seed catalogs even now as her ability to garden is diminished...that she was disappointed when her "Park Seeds book" didn't arrive as anticipated.
Then, thanks to serendipity and Twitter, I found someone willing to lend mom a hand. I've been assured that her name back on the catalog mailing list.
And this is why she's delighted. Her connection to her dad has been reaffirmed--thanks to a mail-order garden supply company. Odd. And yet...delightful.
It is, after all, the littlest, kindest things that keep us rooted--especially in tough times.
Explore More:
• A link to Park Seed Company, made in the spirit of gratitude.
• And, for my grandfather, a link to old Burpee catalogs.
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