Little Bit of Something Special

 

Something special indeed XO

So tomorrow is my sister's memorial ceremony, and though my mind and spirit are doing well with it, my little body surely does protest. Thank goodness her wonderful, loving husband is recording it and zooming it live. I have been too sick physically to be there in person. It has hit hard after nearly three years of her sickness and so many hospital stays for her. My heart has been in my throat or down in my feet and I'm working on getting it back where it belongs....

But there is love, and there is beauty, and there are verrrry special things to hold me together while I recover and learn to carry her in my heart. When there is the death of a sibling who has a family we often don't have the opportunity to inherit something to hold dear, but I am blessed in that I have. 

Years ago I gave my Sis a rather large, beautiful pottery container which perhaps was originally meant to serve stews or soups in but we made it a planter. She always kept it in the window right over her desk in her home study and it flourished there when she was well. As she got sicker with the big C she moved it to an area next to all her other plants and she watered it as she was able, but after many months she became unable to care properly for her plants. And, as many people who are suffering from sickness do, she didn't ask for help. 

So the last time she was in hospital I asked if there was anything I could do, and her loving husband said, "I'm not good with plants, so if you want to stop by the house and water her plants that would be great." So we did, and this container had a bunch of ugh in it and one struggling stem of pothos plant. I watered it but was pretty sure it wasn't coming back.

Then, after her passing, I inherited the container that I'd given her. It sat in my kitchen for a couple of days and I determined to clean it out and replant it. My thought was that I knew she loved it as best she could, so I would too, to honor a little bit of what she loved. So I washed out the container and prepared it with what I know to do with plants. Oh my gosh I made such a mess in the kitchen, but hubby didn't know because I did a good job cleaning up, lol.

I washed it all out, cleaned the pot with vinegar to take off the calcium buildup, and layered it with clean tiny gravel, charcoal, a layer of screen, and what fresh soil I had, and there it sat on our kitchen counter, waiting for new baby plants. I wasn't sure what I could or would plant in there. 

I hadn't said anything to my husband, but he's very sensitive, and picks up on a lot, so when I woke up the next morning, I discovered he'd been to the store, and when I went into the kitchen, the counter looked like Christmas! He'd brought home some more potting soil, and four gorgeous baby plants! They were all sitting there along with a bunch of beautiful alstroemeria flowers for me to put in our vases (which we only do in cool seasons since the house is hot in summer and we spend our time outside in the pool).

So that night I spent about an hour and a half planting the baby plants and making a total mess in the kitchen (sure would love a true mud room, but hey, I can clean up my mess, lol). And it FELT SO GOOD to be giving life back to something she loved. Wow. Every time I look at it, it makes my heart sing right out loud. I LOVE that I can become the caretaker of something she loved. 

Rabbit's foot fern

So after I planted the babies in her planter I had one left over, and picked out a lovely vase we haven't used for years because it's kind of huge and when we had sun in our yard before the trees got too big we put peonies in it but with the shade the peony bushes have not produced as much (soon to change with yardbuzz happening) so I figured this fern would be perfectly happy in this vase. Got my inspiration from all those British movies where they show so many absolutely gorgeous flower/plant containers. They do that so well. 

Happy bunny in the kitchen!

And after I had done the planting I spent a bit of time arranging the flowers my hubby brought, so this is what the well-dressed bunny is wearing this week, WOOT. 

My favorite vase from Lynn Anne XO

And I had enough flowers to fill my favorite vase from one of my favorite friends, the artist Lynn Anne Verbeck. I just love her work. 

Just LOVE.

AND I had a friend come and she gave me some beautiful white roses and told me she's thinking about me tomorrow and wishing me love and peace. Aren't friends just wonderful?! Yep!!

A little light goes a long way.

And the last thing I did on that night was refill my little Moroccan lanterns with new electric tealights, to lend their magic to our evening ambiance.

And I felt all filled up. With love. 

It doesn't take much to feel all filled up with love and sometimes working with plants and caretaking a bit of something our Lovies loved goes a long way to filling our hearts right up with all the good stuff.

May you feel the good stuff too, in all your experiences of life and the passing of loved ones. May you have something to hold dear, and if you don't inherit anything, take the love and memories and create some little thing that makes your heart sing. I'm sure our Lovies can feel when our hearts sing with them and they're singing right with us XO

Namaste,

Jen