"The Secret Garden"

She called late on Saturday afternoon and said to Mom, “Come as you are. I want you and Anna to see my flowers before it is too late.” We had never been to her home. Ahhh, it was a secret garden filled with 15-year-old hibiscus with red blooms the size of saucers, black-eyed susans growing anywhere they could find a place to grow, trumpet angels, rose bushes and flowers that bloom only at night. There were flowers of all colors and names I shall never remember. There were bees on blooms and surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous about their presence. A hummingbird drew sweet water from a feeder. We sat in the garden and she told of the times when hummingbirds came near or lit on the arm of her chair or perched on her hand for a second or two. Secret gardens that grow freely are the best and such invitations are cherished.

And then, as we sat there and she spoke of not just the flowering plants but spoke of who had given them to her and why, she said, “I want two songs sung at my funeral.   One is 'In the Garden'.  The other is 'Where the Roses Never Fade' ”.

The true gift in the garden was the moment when she paused and sang “Where the Roses Never Fade”…

She called late on Saturday afternoon and said to Mom, “Come as you are. I want you and Anna to see my flowers before it is too late.” We had never been to her home. Ahhh, it was a secret garden filled with 15-year-old hibiscus with red blooms the size of saucers, black-eyed susans growing anywhere they could find a place to grow, trumpet angels, rose bushes and flowers that bloom only at night. There were flowers of all colors and names I shall never remember. There were bees on blooms and surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous about their presence. A hummingbird drew sweet water from a feeder. We sat in the garden and she told of the times when hummingbirds came near or lit on the arm of her chair or perched on her hand for a second or two. Secret gardens that grow freely are the best and such invitations are cherished.

And then, as we sat there and she spoke of not just the flowering plants but spoke of who had given them to her and why, she said, “I want two songs sung at my funeral.   One is 'In the Garden'.  The other is 'Where the Roses Never Fade' ”.

The true gift in the garden was the moment when she paused and sang “Where the Roses Never Fade”…