For this "Blooming Tuesday" I wanted to share a couple of photos from my dear sweet friend, Ruthie's garden. She moved away a year ago to her condo in Florida after her and her daughter had a falling out. I also wanted to share a story I had just written about Ruthie, and I was so surprised to get these photos of the roses this morning in an email from her. Seems her daughter-in-law was out here helping get Ruthie's house that she shared with her daughter, Susan, ready to sell. And because Ruthie loved her garden SO much, her daughter-in-law cut some roses from the garden and sent pictures to her. I really miss my friend Ruthie, she is such an awesome person, and had such a beautiful garden!
Be sure to go visit
Ms.Greenthumb Jean for some beautiful photos or her gardens and others!
The Gift of a Rose
Several years ago I gave my dear friend Ruthie Schmidt a bare root rose. I thought it was a great gift, something that would continue to grow and bloom just like our friendship that I so deeply cherished has grown and blossomed! Last year, Ruthie, at age 76, moved back to Florida and left her home and garden behind here in Old Towne Orange. The house belongs to her daughter, but Ruthie was the gardener. Her gardens were absolutely beautiful! She would bring us roses, fruit from her trees, and some of the vegetables she had grown to Country Roads. Her daughter has decided to sell her house and asked one of my dealers at Country Roads to hold an estate sale. Because Ruthie was so involved in Country Roads for so many years, Steve and Robin, who are doing the estate sale, wanted to do a preview night for just the Country Roads dealers. They wanted me to help be in charge of the event and I tried to explain to them “why” I couldn’t do it.
The house is no longer a “home” in my mind. And the “things” for sale have no meaning for me. I think I would be too heartbroken to step inside of the house. Over the past years, I have so many found memories of Ruthie in that house. She use to host, what she called, “Operation Sell” once a month. She would invite a few people from Country Roads that she felt would be good at contributing marketing ideas. Often Mike Escobedo attended a few meetings as well. Ruthie would sit at her desk, and the former school teacher that Ruthie once was, she held our attention and we shared marketing ideas. Ruthie would have an agenda prepared for us and her daughter Susan would take notes. It was the best of times for me. Ruthie would cut out articles she found in trade publications about marketing that she felt were worthwhile and share them with us all.
After I had spoken to Steve and Robin about the estate sale and the Country Roads preview night I went home and emailed Ruthie. I told her there was no way I could go over to what was once her home, but now is just a house to me. The thought of people going through all of the things in the house and wanting better prices on them, well, that image just broke my heart. So, I sadly explained to Ruthie “why” I just couldn’t do it. I asked her for one big favor that would mean so very, very much to me. I asked her if I could have one of her rosebushes. I would have my son Bryce go over and dig it out, assuming it was okay with Susan since it is her house, and replace it with another one I would buy at a nursery. I so badly wanted my memory of Ruthie and the happy times in her garden to continue to be a reminder to me each time I saw her rosebush in my garden.
Ruthie’s reply was wonderful. She told me she knew the exact rose she wanted me to have. It is called the “Tuscan Sun”, it was the bare root rose I had given her years ago and forgotten about. That was the rose she wanted me to have and I immediately knew the exact place in my garden where I would plant it. I was very touched by the words from such a special person that Ruthie is. There aren’t many “Ruthie’s” in our world today unfortunately. We need more of them. And because of Ruthie’s gesture, each day I walk out my front door, I will see “our” rose and be reminded of the true meaning of love and friendship.
My mom died three years ago yesterday. Sometimes it seems so much longer, maybe because my dad died just a few months later and there was just so much we were all going through back then. It was a tough time, they had the dementia/Alzheimer's stuff going on. I remember when I got the call from assisted living that my mom and fallen and they were taking her to the hospital. It was the same day that little newborn Riley and Katie were coming home from the hospital. I remember looking at the sky, seriously, and out loud asking, "why now, why now". I feel bad admitting it, but I was angry. I just wanted a couple of days to celebrate the birth and enjoy my first grandchild!
When I called the hospital, they say she would be okay, and in a few days they would send her back to assisted living. I felt better, although it only lasted a day. Above is a picture of me with my parents when I was a baby. Where did all that time go?
This picture is my mom with Brande at the hospital when Katie was born. It makes me a little sad, wishing that she could still have done the same thing with Riley, after Morgan was born. A couple of days after I got the call from the hospital, its was 6:16am on August 30th, 2006. The nurse asked me to "hold" because the doctor wanted to talk to me. I was on "hold" for what seemed like forever, which actually was probably less than five minutes. The nurse got back on the phone and then said the doctor wanted me to come to the hospital right away. I "knew" my mom was gone and asked the nurse, but she wouldn't tell me. I understand much more now, how my mom had been so sick for so long and just "held on" long enough for Riley to be born. It still didn't make it any easier though. But with all things in life, with the passage of time, you accept what happens in life. And I know my mom is in a better place right now where she is no longer in pain. I just hope she knows that I'm trying my best to be the best Gramma ever to my baby girls, Riley & Morgan. I miss you Mom!
