We moved into this house 9 years ago this summer.

It was a very busy summer.

It began with my father’s Memorial Day visit to the emergency room

Followed by his quadruple bypass surgery the next week.

Two weeks later Elliott and Kristina were married.

Two weeks after that we moved here.

By August I was unpacked

But far from settled.

My memory is it was a cool August.

Much like this year.

I had moved my house

And since I work at home

My office had come along.

The only thing left behind

Was my garden.

Kind of.

Earlier that spring

Before we put our old house on the market.

I had dug up about 1/2 of my garden

And planted it in a borrowed bed.

My old friend and new next door neighbor Patti

Was graciously loaning me a flower bed

At her house.

It was packed with plants

I was anxious to put in their permanent home.

But it was after all August.

And our “new old” house

Didn’t have a single flower bed.

The back yard was a blank slate.

We had big plans to add beds

But not until the next spring.

So it was my first summer in decades

Without a garden.

A slight depression began to set in.

I was understandably tired

With no place to contemplate it all.

Nothing to lose myself in.

No garden for my quiet conversations with God.

Then one day hope arrived.

I stepped out the back door

Rounded the corner of the house

There they were

With no warning

Right in the middle of the yard.

Surprise Lilies

Alias Naked Ladies.

I’d seen them around town

But never had planted any.

What a gift.

Though I’m sure the saying

“Hope springs eternal” is true.

In my case it’s more like

“Hope sprouts eternal”

Gail