Monday, September 14, 2009

The white rose..or finding things in your garden you did not expect

I have moved more times than I care to say and made gardens at all of them, including apartments. The items I have consistenly found over the years when I am digging are old marbles. It has come to be a sign of good luck for me to find them and I have a mason jar in my living room filled with them. I have yet to find one at my current home, but keep hoping. But the best treasure I uncovered happened like this:I was living in a 96 year old house in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was pregnant with my only child. There were some neighbor kids who kept cutting across my back yard through a hole in the fence and I located an old "granny gate" behind a neighbor's house, asked permission and dragged it home. I plugged the hole in the fence with it and when summer came, just before my son was born, a beautiful old-fashioned white rose grew up. My life was very difficult at this time, with an abusive husband, and that rose gave me new hope. My beautiful son was born soon after and eventually I was able to leave my husband and start a new life. That rose was such a gift.