I’ve been shooting a lot this week and struggled to choose which photo to share but in the end went with a symbolic promise… of life, of hope, of renewal.
I took this photo at Mayfield Park, the same place that I visited the day before I said goodbye to Debbie. After she died, I had the strongest compulsion to reach out to her niece, Kristi. Those of you that know me realize that this isn’t my nature… I’m rather shy and introverted and not terribly social in real life. Kristi was leaving to go home to California on Tuesday, so I kidnapped her Monday and took her to Mayfield Park and told her how I visited there last week. We took Jenny with us too which was good since Jenny didn’t have a chance to see Debbie after her diagnosis. We walked around the grounds (I got another good peacock photo which I’ll upload later) and I took more photos of flowers this time. Kristi is a lot like Debbie, one of those unconditional lovers of life, a soul wise and sweet, and she was such a pleasure to get to know. I hope we keep in touch.
This particular flower captivated me. And as the week has worn on, I’ve come back to it many times. Here is this bud, on the cusp of blooming into something beautiful. As devastating as Debbie’s death is, life continues on. It’s hard to grasp that in the cold hard reality, but life does continue on. She would want us to celebrate the happy times and remember the good stuff. It’s hard to do, but I’m going to keep looking at this photo to remind me.
Thanks for looking.
