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April 29, 2003
Plants of Death
It's finally gotten warm enough to move some of my bigger house plants outside for the summer. It struck me that my three favorites each came from a death. My amaryllis came from a big pot of bulbs that were always beside my maternal grandfather's recliner. He loved those flowers because they always bloomed right around Christmas. I got some of the bulbs a few years after he passed away in 1976.
My weeping fig tree came from the funeral of my only niece in 1994. My sis got so many potted plants and flowers that they filled an entire bedroom, and the overflow covered the carport. This is the only one out of all I took that survived.
And my huge peace lily came from the funeral of my paternal grandmother a couple of years ago. It's gotten so large that I can barely lift it, and it's still going strong. I like it best because it's so quietly beautiful...much like my grandmother was.
My daughter was old enough to be included in the ritual "womenfolk division of the funeral flowers" after my grandmother's funeral. She was kinda weirded out by it all at first, but I explained that it was a way of keeping a reminder of the deceased with you. Besides, I continued, you know what Granny would say if she was here...."Now you girls take all them flowers that you want cuz I ain't got no use for 'em."
And she would've too.
Posted by Rita at April 29, 2003 01:24 PM