A Rose by any other name....

Flowers filled this house after Maggie died. We were completely overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of so many. The colors, the arrangements, the smells and well wishes behind them buoyed our souls in those first difficult weeks.

My lifelong friend Sharon took a slightly different tack. She sent a live rose bush. It arrived in a package from the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas. I opened the package and looked inside and thought what a great idea. We can plant this and it will be Maggie's rosebush. I didn't know how right I was.

I can't remember now where we were going, but we were just about to leave the house so I decided to leave the rose in the box until Steve could plant it in our backyard. He did so the next morning. Steve returned into the house fighting back the tears that came so easily in those first days. I smiled and asked if it was planted and he didn't really talk, he just handed me the information that came in the box.

The name of this particular rose was "Maggie."

Sharon not only sent a rosebush that we could plant and enjoy and think of Maggie. She found an actual Maggie Rosebush. Here it is planted an ready to take off.

With any luck, it will grow beautiful flowers that look like this:

I loved this idea so much that I copied it. I went to the website and ordered three more Maggie rosebushes. They arrived yesterday. One goes to my Mother for Mother's day (late) and the other two we are taking to Mission High School today to plant in the school's memorial garden. We get a little patch of dirt in the sunny Mission District and I'm sure these flowers will flourish there.  We will put up this plaque to go in the garden too.

This was going to be just a little remembrance, but like everything involving Maggie, it has created a lot of interest. (I am bringing food for 40 and hope its enough.) We will plant the Maggie roses and put the Maggie plaque next to them. It will be all Maggie all the time. 

Same as it ever was....

I know that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, but I'm not sure the impact would have been quite as strong.