Two Hearts Two Flowers

Knowing flowers isn't my claim to fame, but knowing that she lives in me and around me are so vivid on these crisp autumn days.  Autumn is my most favorite time of the year with its array of browns, golds and oranges.  I love the combination of colors, and it's reflected on the inside colors of my house.  It brings a sense of calm and anticipation of all the festivities of the season with Halloween and Thanksgiving......shortly followed by the onset of Christmas. 

One morning as I set my tired feet to the floor; I asked Chrissy to please show me a sign that she was near.  (Please knock me over with your presence my friend) Of course, I know she is always here, but I need those tangibles every once in awhile to keep me moving some days.  So here begins the story of two hearts and two flowers.  One notion that became clear a long time ago is that my husband is not a flower giver.  Understand when I say that flowers are wonderful, but for me, I appreciate them more given in long intervals.  That sounds like a bunch of rubbish, but I hold onto the hugs and kisses more or the "I love yous"......those are more precious to me.  When he gives me flowers, I know it's genuine and heartfelt.  He has so many other special qualities, but romancing  me with flowers isn't one of them.  As memories invade my soul constantly during these November days; many tears have been shed.  My heart aches to be near her, and I can't help but reflect on where we were this time last year.  My hubby can sense this, too, and he sees the pain of my soul, missing my sister's physical presence near me.  Thus came the day he brought me home flowers from Trader Joes.......one of my most favorite places to shop, especially their fresh flowers.  He brought them home on a day that was most needed as I was thinking about the news we heard on November 12th last year.  My sister, Susie, called to say that Chrissy's doctor recommended hospice care as there was nothing more that they could do medically speaking.  Susie was with her that day when they went to the doctor for the last time.  Hearing this sort of news puts you in a state of shock; yet, it wasn't a total surprise to me.  My sister's health was declining quickly before me, and I knew her earthly time was nearing an end.  With that said, the memories invade my mind, and so this gorgeous bouquet of flowers which included some daisies, roses, iris buds and some other unidentifiable ones was given to me by my honey.  The fact that this man of mine knew.....he knew and remembered, and that's all that mattered to me.  With a special card and flowers in hand, they dried my tears.  The flowers adorned my kitchen counter and for the next days, I would look at them and smell their fragrances.  One day,  one of the buds had bloomed into a gorgeous, pink iris.  A couple of days it sat alone in the variety of other flowers.  So back to the day that I awoke, longing to see a sign of her presence.  Always knowing of course, but I'm human, and I crave for those signs. Those signs confirming what I already know.  On that morning I prayed for her to make her presence known.....knock me over.  I went about my day at work, and I was stopped my my supervisor who told me that many compliments were coming his way about my performance there, and that made my day!   Later on, I was finishing my day, cleaning up the dinner dishes when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye: the iris that was one......full bloom of course, was now standing beside another pink iris that was connected to it in full bloom as well.  Perhaps you might say it was no big deal, but only that morning  it was a closed bud.  I remember this because the one iris was in full bloom for a few days and the other one was still a bud.  I thought this was kind of strange because both of them were on the same stem, but only one  had been opened for the past few days.  How blessed that is that on the day I ask her to show me a sign, the other pink iris opens itself.  They still sit beside each other, and for this week I see them still beautiful, pink and strong......just as she must be in the life beyond........both of us still connected just as the flowers are on the same stem.....connected.  I didn't share this story with Marty, but I kept it to myself.  It was on this same day, too, later in the evening when I had a hair appointment and on my way home I thought about stopping for an icecream, but I decided not to. With the holidays approaching, it was better that I laid off this favorite treat of mine.  After the kids went to bed that evening, Marty said, "I need to make a run."  (our code word for going to Dairy Queen)  I chuckled to myself, but it only got better when he arrived back from his run.  He said to me, "You know, your sister's been calling me."  I responded with, "Deni?  Susie?  About what??" 
"Your sister's been calling me," he repeated with an odd look on his face.  It was then that I knew he meant Chrissy.  It is very rare to hear Marty say something like this.  I paused, and then I asked, "What has she been calling you about?"  
"Well, strange as this sounds, the past few days.....atleast three times, when I drive under a street light, it flickers off, and then you come to mind.  Tonight, it happened again, and I thought of you and Dairy Queen.  She kept bugging me about getting you Dairy Queen!"  We both looked at each other because I never mentioned to Marty about getting me any icecream that night when I felt my craving for the sweet treat.

Our two hearts are still connected like those two flowers.  There's no doubt Chrissy and I live in this realm, not connected by the body anymore, but most definitely we are connected in the heart, in spirit.  I've never doubted this, but when my heart aches for the physical, it's nice to be reminded.   I know we are forever connected as two sister hearts should be. 

"I love you my friend"