Once they were the pride and joy of the flower garden, once their fragrance filled and lingered in the morning air.
Once they brightly greeted the rising sun, opening wide to embrace and enjoy the warmth of a new day.
Once they were the delight of passersby, who often tarried for a long while at the arbor gate of the white picket fence that surrounded the garden.
But time passes – Spring becomes Summer and it becomes Fall – and now, slowly, imperceptibly, with the barest gentle whisper of a breeze, the petals lose their hold and begin a slow drift down to a resting spot on a carpet of color.
Fall becomes Winter, a time where the color of life is gone.
What happens to flowers also happens to all families.
The passing of a loved one leaves a favorite chair unoccupied; an empty place at the dinner table; laughter is silenced, unheard. Such times bring remembrance – and their share of tears too.
Soon enough the petals of our lives will join the tapestry of others.
But until then, we have today.
And the life-creating roots, bulbs, tubers lie dormant under the earth waiting to be “resurrected” come spring.