The Ring

I have always loved plants and gardening. I am not a very good gardener, but I do try. Since I bought my house, I have had lots of fun decorating inside and out, and spring planting is one of my favorite times of year. It signifies the end of winter, which is always too long for me. The weather warms, and the days start to get longer. I have some perennials, but I also like to plant annuals. I save my geraniums from year to year. I have no idea why probably because they are still in bloom when it starts to get cold. I bring them in, and they bloom well into winter. I also love to have access to fresh herbs all summer. So my friend and I went to the garden center, and that is when I realized how sick I was. I got extremely dizzy and weak and had a hard time getting back to the car. The dizziness came on so suddenly that it surprised me. Good thing I wasn’t driving.

By the time we got back to my friend’s house, I felt a little better, but Brian had to come pick me up as I didn’t trust myself. He helped me bring the plants and soil out back, and I set up my little planting station. It felt delicious to scoop the rich, dark soil into the pots and lovingly sprinkle the dirt around the stems. I like my plants to grow along with the spring, so I buy them small and let them mature in the sunshine. I didn’t feel the least bit weak as I planted my plants and herbs, and now I will have a cheerful yard all summer. It was the one thing that I was well enough to do, and I got to stand back and enjoy how lovely it looked. It gave me a huge sense of accomplishment.

A couple of days later, as I sat on the deck surrounded by flowers, I noticed that my ring was missing. I never took that ring off. It was my mother’s. I found it in her things after she passed away. It was gold and wide, and it had two little stars with diamonds in them and a quarter moon with sapphires, which is my birthstone. I thought I was meant to find it because of that, and now it was gone. I had lost so much weight, even on my fingers, that I lost it somewhere and didn’t even notice it was gone. I didn’t feel it slip off, and I was heartbroken. But the universe is watching, always watching. The following spring, as I emptied the soil from the hanging pot that had last year’s petunias, out fell the ring! It was in pieces, but there it was! The moon was separated from one of the stars, but all three were there. My mom was letting me know that she was watching over me. Her star was with the universe, but her heart was still with me on earth. I keep forgetting to ask my brother to fix the ring if he can.