ANNETTE SWITZER PATTERSON

1st the message my Grandmother had written on my Mom’s Grave “An angel visited the green earth and took a flower away – my daughter.”

The 2nd something that my Aunt recently said to me “Bad things happen to good people and it should never define you.”

This is a story of my favorite flower. This flower endured many bad things but remained beautiful through it all. This flower spent many years being neglected — often stomped on, unwatered, and unloved. It was even told that it was just an ugly weed.

This flower had many hardships in the garden, losing friends and other flowers that it loved. Many times it wilted and wanted to die. It even lost a few petals along the way. Despite everything, its stem, its core, remained strong.

Finally, the right gardener came along and recognized the beauty of the flower. His name was Paul. He watered the flower with Pepsi, fed it, and provided it shade on hot days. Paul loved that flower more than any flower he had ever seen. He saw its beauty and made a promise to always protect it. In his care, the flower flourished and showed its love to the gardener every day by blooming brighter with each season. Suddenly the hardships of the past became just that — the past. They no longer defined the flower but strengthened its stem for many other flowers to lean on.

As all good things come to an end, the flower became weak in its old age. Its petals shriveled and it became spotted. It barely bloomed anymore and even became unrecognizable to many. But, for those of us who loved that flower, we saw that its stem never changed; and that gardener, Paul, loved her through it all. Because, even when the flower forgot who he was, the Pepsi he watered her with still tasted as sweet as she remembered.

An angel has come and picked my flower, just as another angel picked my mother, the flower’s daughter, so many years ago. Together, they are making heaven’s most beautiful garden and someday, I will get to sit there watching the gardener lovingly care for his flowers. But, until that time comes, I will love and protect the gardener as my flower once did. I, too, will grow stronger with his love and wisdom.

Thank you, Grandma, for being my Mother when I lost mine. Thank you for strengthening my stem, teaching me to be kind, to be thoughtful, to always be honest even when it’s difficult, and not to be afraid of anyone or anything. I will love you forever and I will nurture my flowers as you cared for me.

Love, Charity