It’s been five Mother’s Days since mom passed away. Every year when this day rolls around, I sadly realize that I will not need to remember a card or flowers. It just happens that this Mother’s Day, I went plant shopping for another woman. A woman that I know was promoted at work, so I thought I would bring her a plant Monday morning. I went to a greenhouse that carries beautiful and unusual plants. As I was searching for the perfect plant, I couldn’t help but notice all the people buying plants, shrubs and bushes. I watched a father with a young boy and girl pick out a flowering tree and take it up to the register. All of a sudden I felt very lonely, until I remembered my mission. I found a beautiful calla lilly in deep red and orange with interesting spotted leaves. This was a perfect plant for a kind and inspirational woman. In fact, the lily is next to me as I write this post.
My relationship with my mother was turbulent, but our mother-daughter bond was strong. I think of her all the time. When I was younger, I was convinced that I was nothing like my mother. Now I’m not so sure.
I would send her flowers on Mother’s Day, birthdays and holidays. Now I wished that I had just brought them myself. Sometimes I did bring them, but not nearly enough. I was always too busy with my life, especially after she went into a nursing home.
I study the calla lilly next to me. Mom would have thought it was pretty, but not for her. She would have liked red geraniums. In fact, that’s what my father and I use to get her on Mother’s Day – red geraniums.
