Scribblemom.com
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gallery
  • scribble mom.com

Flowers for You

2/21/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Yes, they are old.  You may think that they are over, and they are done.  
But these hydrangeas just keep giving.  In the dark and cold and thirty degrees below zero wind chills,  they give life.  
The shrub feeds a pair of cardinals and other birds.  It gives them a bit of shelter to hide from the wind... a bit of comfort in a sometimes frigid world.  The birds are joyful about it, too.  They fluff about and huddle deep in the branches, their clear songs ring out, breaking the silence of snow.  
Hydrangeas remind me of my grandmother.  She is gone now, but the seeds she planted and the memories she left still remain.  They warm my heart on the cold days, reminding me that I was loved.  The teeny tiny, gentle woman wore pastel and liked flowers and wrapped her fluffy hair in toilet paper at night to keep the style safe after she had it set at the beauty parlor up the road.  She painted her fingernails pink, but she was fiercely strong.  
She had wanted to be a nurse, but when the War came along, she worked in a factory instead.  She married a soldier who she met when he was dancing, wrapped up in crepe paper in a pub on Halloween night.  Then this woman, who had wanted to be a nurse and go dancing,  lived the rest of her life taking care of others instead.  She cared for her children, her mother in law, her mother, her grandchildren, and even touched the lives of her great grandchildren, showering them with love and food and a place to call home.  She cared for the immigrants and the poor, she taught children and fed the birds.  And come hell or high water, she went to Mass to pray every day.  
Now she is gone and it is winter.
But the seeds of her love are here still.  I remember her big pots of soup, homemade noodles drying on paper bags all over the kitchen.  I remember her gentleness, her "Ach, Schatzie!  You're such good kids!"  She dropped everything and moved in with us whenever my mom was ill.  She stepped in and adapted to our teenage lives, doing what she could to make it better.  In cooking and cleaning and doing all the monotonous small things, she gave us structure and stability when life was tough.  She surprised me once with a pink satin dress for homecoming, when my mom was in the hospital and my  world was dark.  She pushed aside my black combat boots, and said, "Put on a little pink lipstick, Dearie.  The world is a beautiful place."  

That's why I wanted to share my hydrangea with you today.  
It may be old. 
But it's a good place to find shelter from the storm.





2 Comments
Kathleen Hubbard
11/1/2015 02:02:47 pm

Hi! I'm lurking around your web site now and serendipitously choose this one where I discovered you are in Minnesota! So am I! I live in a small town in SW MN. What are the odds of that happening?

BTW, I'm enjoying your writings. You have a gift.

Reply
Michelle Mahnke link
11/3/2015 05:24:48 am

Kathie,

Thank you for "lurking about the website"! I'm so pleased you found it. Warm hearts in a cold world is what Minnesota does best.
Thanks for reading,

Michelle

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alzheimer's
    Art
    Birds
    Camping
    Cartoon
    Christmas
    Comic Books
    Craft
    Down Syndrome
    Family
    Flowers
    Food
    Gratitude
    Health
    Hope
    Joy
    Kids
    Kindness
    Love
    Mom
    Mud
    Oil
    Or Lack Of It
    Paint
    Peace
    Pets
    Photography
    PTSD
    School
    Sky
    Snow
    Spring
    Sunday Bouquet
    Sunrise
    Transplant
    Veterans
    Winter
    Work

    RSS Feed

    Love
    Joy
    Peace

    Found in the 
    small things...

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    July 2021
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

All content  © michellemahnke.com  2021