that we have come to love
we had lived in , what most consider, a small average town, on a busy street, in a decaying neighborhood. We lived in a small "farm" type of house that had been moved from it's roots in the country to a loud, growling, city street..............it seemed as misplaced and unhappy as I felt living there.
However, "bloom where you are planted" has always been my statement for life, and I set out to make our newly wedded life in that home. All of our children were born there and we spent the first 19 years of our lives..........surviving the ups and downs of living inches away from what at times, were scary neighbors. On balmy summer afternoons, my husband and I would take our three children on walks to the "old" downtown area, where ever so often, we would meet up with the ice cream truck. On those walks, I would always see the Italian Jasmine pictured in these photos, gracefully growing along the stone hedges of old boarded up houses. Houses that a family grew up in and then moved away and forgot about..........only the Italian jasmine remained to grow and bloom. I knew this is what I wanted to grow along our backyard fence as well.
When I called the nursery to see if they had some for me to purchase, the owner told me that it was an "antique"plant, that no one carries any longer and that if I wanted it, I should just go dig up a sprig or two at the abandoned houses. This I did...........which I am glad...........because a few months later those house were torn down and the property was turned into a parking lot..........killing the remaining jasmine.
When we found our home out here, I dug up my rose bushes, lantana, and jasmine and transplanted them onto the grounds. Now the jasmine has grown so much that I have transplanted sections along the other areas in the gardens. This blooms it's cheery yellow flowers every January reminding me of the arrival of spring just around the corner. I love it for this reason, but I love it more for the memory it has created for me.
How about you? Is there any particular flower, tree, or plant, that brings back memories to you?
I would love to hear.
***just a note to say thank you for all of your supportive comments on my "book publishing" woes on my previous post. I am not giving up and when it actually blossoms from a dream and into a reality, I will let you all know. Thank you for listening......reading.
0 Comments