One last bloom for remembrance...

They were lovely sitting in the front office when I arrived for my evening shift at Finch Elementary. Flowers! Beautiful, breathtaking flowers! I made the remark, “I see my flowers have arrived”. We all smiled, then I asked who was the lucky person who received the flowers. Audrey said a coach in the school district lost his wife and there were so many flowers sent to the funeral that he wanted to share them. I don’t know the coach or his wife, but I could see by the flowers she was well loved and so was he.

Each day as I arrived for work the first thing I saw were these lovely flowers and we all enjoyed the aliveness; the memory of someone who was so loved and cherished that the over abundance of flowers were a monument to her life. By Friday, the cut flowers were wilting and beginning to see their last breath of life. I had an idea. These flowers could continue one or two more days to spread joy in other people’s homes and lives. The Finch Elementary Club 360 children took delight in taking their mom 3 or 4 of the flowers that were left. It was a final tribute to the one who was gone. I knew in my heart that she and her husband would want to see how the wilting flowers would live through one more day putting smiles on the children’s faces as they handed their mom the 3 or 4 flowers each from one of the arrangements. This is what the flowers were about -- consoling the living and bringing a bloom to the cheeks of children!