I’ve had the idea to write about the sturdy Gerbera Daisy my brother gave me a few years ago for a long time, so imagine my excitement when I read author Jane Kirkpatrick’s account of the hibiscus plant her brother gave her a few years ago! I love following her Story Sparks because she always writes something that speaks to my heart. The first book I read of hers was A GATHERING OF FINCHES, a historical novel, and was a fan immediately. She’s written many historical novels and many nonfiction books, including HOMESTEAD. BARCELONE CALLING, her first contemporary novel, is now out. (BTW click the link above to read the story about her hibiscus and brother!) I love her post and it was all I needed to get busy and write!
Our mom passed away in March of 2005, just two weeks before her birthday. It was a difficult time for me, my siblings, our children and our dad, but we wanted to gather at the farm and celebrate the beautiful woman who had blessed our lives. We had birthday cake and shared stories that brought smiles and tears. Afterward we took a balloon bouquet outside and released them in tribute and watched them until the last red balloon was a dot in the sky.
My brother, the youngest of us four and the only male, brought a gift for each of us. He is thoughtful in that way, but I’m sure he did not know how meaningful his gift would be to me and how much comfort it would bring.
It was a small potted gerbera daisy with a picture of our mom, taken on her birthday one year before she died. Each little plant had two or three cheerful blooms. I took mine home and hovered over it. I’d had a Gerbera before and it didn’t survive. So this time I read everything I could about them. They are not easy to care for: they dislike overwatering – indeed they like to droop as if they are asking for a drink – and require just the right amount of light, whatever that is.
So I hovered over the daisy, referring to it as “she”. She needs water, I think. She doesn’t like this window. What I found is if I left her next to the kitchen sink, I would remember to give her water at just the precise time and the northerly kitchen window seemed to provide the right amount of light, too.
The following spring she did not bloom. That August I married Tom and moved the daisy to a new north window. It faced Mount Adams and was right outside my bedroom door. Not a morning went by that I didn’t come out and smile at my mom’s picture and check the gerbera for thirst or blooms. The year flew by for me and the following spring, on Mother’s Day the small bud of a bloom appeared. It opened to a beautiful flower.
Over the next few years the daisy bloomed once or twice – one year three times! – and again around Mother’s Day 2009. Then in May our dad became very ill. He had a faulty valve that needed replacement, and two days after the surgery he had a stroke. The next year was a long, painful recovery. There were no blooms that year. But dad got well and on Father’s Day 2011 a small bud appeared once again. The picture at the top of the page is the bloom, a few days after it opened. And then a few days ago I noticed something that has never happened before. As I prepared to have the family gather at our home for Thanksgiving – Dad included – I noticed a bloom. A bloom in November! This is a first! I like to think an angel is rejoicing! But what I know is this: God gives us comfort, through His Word and through His Creation. And sometimes through a pesky little brother!