I ride the handivan. We really hit it off, I think partly because we
both had teenaged sons at the same time, who were both being, well,
teenagers. We had empathy for each other and encouraged each other
when we felt like motherhood was the least appreciated career on the
planet.
When I would ride the van home at five o'clock sometimes there would
be another driver. Although I enjoyed the other drivers too, I would
muse to myself that my ride home was "Hope" less.
One day when she took me home she said, "You need more flowers here. I
need to bring you flowers and plant them". Several months went by,
and then there was a call from Hope. She and her husband, Michael,
would be coming out to assess the acreage. After sizing up the
situation, they told me I needed to go to Sam's Club and get a
multilevel cart. They would attach grow lights, plant seedlings, and
see me in the spring.
In February I got my first e-mail from Hope with pictures of the
"babies", a mere portent of things to come. Six weeks and 5 million
waterings later, these babies were now adolescents and the day of
reckoning was approaching. A planting party was scheduled, and the
most amazing culmination of time, effort, and devotion to helping
someone other than oneself came to life! Though the graduations,
weddings, etc. kept the masses of assisting humanity away, Hope and a
small brave band of planting warriors refused to be deterred.
Innkeeper Jim rounded up cordless drills attached to miniature augers
which made it easy to slip the little plants into the soil. Something
resembling a planting brigade was set in motion. Painted daisies,
marigolds, impatience, vinca, Shasta daisies, the list goes on and on.
As difficult as the work was for the volunteer angels, their work
pales compared to the chore facing this innkeeper.....that is, how in
the world can we ever thank them?!
