I love my grandmother and I think of her often and fondly.
Those days that I was in Dallas while we all sat with her and held her hand and told her it was ok to leave and then after she had passed, while we sat together and reminisced and spent time as a family, I spent a lot of time thinking.
I wanted to consider how I felt about her being gone, about how I missed Veronique, about how death made me feel about The Universe and myself and the future and my kids. I needed to reflect. And because it was quiet and I could think there, I spent that time outside.
And everywhere, there were these beautiful trees.
I was in love with them. They were beautiful, regal, innocently and purely white and the thing that I will always associate with my grandmother passing. And not in a melancholy way but in a fond way.
When we got back from Dallas, I looked them up online and found that they were Bradford Pear trees. So I ordered some seeds online and tried to grow a couple. My attempt was a failed one, but I vowed that once I had a house where I could grow them in my yard, I would.
Then, last November, I saw these stunning trees with their amazingly dark red leaves and fell in love. Five months later and I am still asking you all to help me figure out what they are. When suddenly, I am sitting at my desk writing an email and it hits me. It's the same tree. It's my grandmother's tree.
It's funny how that works. How I would fall in love with the same tree twice and it looked so different both times.
I think that sometimes people pop in and say hello to you and maybe you don't even realize it.
I miss you...
Labels: death, my grandmother, The Universe, Veronique
