Thursday Thoughts - When Your Struggles Gain Strength and Bloom...

My first Morning Glory flower opened this morning....

This Spring and Summer have been a struggle for my Mom and our family.  We have had some ups and downs.  Through it all, we are gaining a new strength and wisdom that will help us further down the road as she starts the radiation treatments.  My Morning Glory flower is a sign that we have gained that new strength.

I started the morning glory plants from seed.  They looked like this on Memorial Day weekend.  I added Pansies and Violas from the garden center to add color, while I waited for them to bloom. I placed a planter on each side of the trellis. 

My container garden is like an outside quilt.  Remember, I love color!

They had a great start, but then something started eating the tops off the plants.  What was eating them?  I moved them up off the ground onto a wood box and the deck.  Then they were protected from the plant eating animals.  

One of the plants grew in the ground where the containers had been. It started growing and was doing quite well.  Then something came and ate it again!  What was eating them?  

I kept thinking, I am never going to have flowers... Why? 

We, as a family, were having similar struggles with my Mom.  She was sick with Pancreatitis and then better and then sick again.  The surgeon removed the tumor in her brain and she is doing better, but needing radiation. 

That will bring more ups and downs for my Mom and our family.  As she struggles to heal, we will all support her and keep her comforted through being there.  She gains a renewed strength from her family and friends.

The plant on the box is doing well today, but no flowers yet!  The plant on the other side of the trellis on the deck is also doing well, but no blooms yet!

From my perspective here is where the story gets interesting... 

I planted Morning Glories last year.  They were beautiful with full blooms everyday, but the container was on the deck, not on the ground. It was protected from the animals.  Some of the soil from that planter got mixed in with the container that I planted my pepper plants in this year...  

    Out sprouted a morning glory plant!  Every day, I untangled the morning glory off the pepper plant and rerouted it up the railing on the deck toward the wooden quilt. 

It was kind of a fail plant, but it kept going.  It got stronger everyday, as I rerouted it up the railing.  When I was at Mom's, my husband took over and helped with the watering and the rerouting of the plant.

Today was the first bloom!  Can you see it to the right of the quilt?

Sometimes when we are struggling with life and it's difficulties, then to our surprise  ---- Out of blue, a bloom shows up! 

It's a positive symbol that there is renewed strength, when you care and comfort someone or something in need...

May you find strength each day, in whatever you are doing and don't miss the blooms.... They are the parts of life.... that are so important...

I am back home today, so I read this to my Mom on the phone.  We decided that the blooms in my Mom's life are all the special people that care and assist her every day, as she works so hard to heal.

Again, thanks to all of you, for your support, kindness, and prayers... 

You are the blooms in our hearts...

Marcia
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Tootsie Time: Fertilizer Friday - Oct. 21, 2011