Yeah... I know it's been a while. I feel the tug to write and share... or someone calls and says "I get tired of checking on your blog to find nothing new"... or something jogs a memory or hits a nerve and I actually stop everything that I'm doing and sit down to tell you about it.
Recently, I've had a few friends who have laid their souls bare for the purposes of making the world a better place. They've spoken up and shared in a way that touches your heart and lays open the places that all of us have, but few of us can or will lay open to the world. It makes the world a better place and it makes those of us in the world kinder, more thoughtful people.
So, there are several reasons why today's post is happening.
This morning, I walked the dog.
Just like every other morning, but maybe with an extra spring in our step because it's cool today...
or because the new, little calves in the pasture across the road intrigue a German Shepherd in so many ways...
or because there were roses.
All of my life, the roadside and the ditches and the hedgerows in this part of South Carolina, have been covered with these small roses. For many years, I thought they were wild.
They are not wild roses. In the early 1900's, these roses were sold, via 'ladies magazines', through advertisements. The best of the research that I have indicates that they came in three colors and a 'start' of the roses sold for ten cents. You did not get to choose the color. I can picture my great, great grandmother and her sisters and sisters-in-law, posting an envelope containing a letter with their name and address and a shiny dime. Over time, the rambling nature of the little roses moved them from homestead yards and gardens to the roadsides where they consistently bloom year after year with no care and no modern horticultural oversite.
They are among my favorite flowers and they make me happy.
And this morning, they were in full bloom.
The moral of this part of the story is "Plant something to leave behind!"
Plant whatever you love... an apple tree, an inexpensive rose, daisies,,, daffodils...
Leave them as a legacy to those who come behind.
This brings me to the container. And kindness of those around us.
When I was just out of college, and engaged to be wed, I worked in a small town. And I had clients and customers who were regulars. It was a small town and everyone knew your story. Some folks knew ALL of my story and most of these folks were so kind and so sweet. They were happy to see my happiness. One day, just before my wedding, a sweet lady, with silver hair, came to me and handed me a beautifully wrapped package. It was wrapped in simple white tissue with a pale pink, hand tied bow. I will never forget what she said. "This is not an expensive gift... it's an old thing of mine that I love and I want it to go to a new home full of love." I unwrapped it. It was a rose bowl. Chipped silver plating, wrapped around a real crystal bowl with a 'flower frog' frame on top.
Designed to hold roses with short little stems. Well worn and very used and more precious to me now, 31 years later, this small rose bowl has been used for beautiful dinner parties and special occasions. It has sat by my chair as I read at night and on my bedside table. It has graced my dining room table and my simple little kitchen table and the window sill. It's sat on my front porch and in more than one hospital room. It has less silver plate and a few more dings than it did when I got it.
And so this morning, I pulled it from the walnut corner cupboard and grabbed my snips and filled up the upturned bottom of my shirt with dainty little roses, and a fern frond or two and some fennel. I filled the bowl with the heady scent of the fresh snipped roses and fennel and remembered a kindness and the well wishes. It reminds me to be generous and kind and actually take time to do the small things that make an impact. In small, small ways, like planting an heirloom, or giving a gift that is a small part of ourselves, or reminding people to be kind, we will make the world where we are a better place.
So, where ever you are, as you read this...
take time to smell the roses... and share the small things in life, in small acts of kindness.
You will impact someone far more than you know.
