One of Mom's very good friends reminded me this week of Mom's love for gardening. She loved flowers and she was as colourful as her garden. But Mom was also a gardener of people. She gathered her friends around her and helped them bloom. She cared deeply for them and nurtured the relationships, keeping in touch, remembering birthdays and important family events. In fact, Dad and I are struggling to keep this up with the apparent ease that Mom did. She had an incredible memory for names, dates and places.
And in the garden, Mom was no different. She had wonderful ways with plants and colours, and had two huge volumes of plant information. She was always on hand to pass on gardening advice to us and never minded getting her hands dirty.
I have been a late starter with gardening, but I'm getting there and have learnt a lot in the last year. I have also learnt that special friendships, nurtured and cherished, will last a lifetime, but Mom already knew that.