My Grams called last night. She asked me to send her something just words or phrases that describes my memories of my great grandmother's garden. Seems the paper in my home town is doing stories about different flower/herb gardens around the city. Grandmother was an amazing gardener. She gave me my love for flowers...too bad she didn't give me a green thumb... Grams said that she thought that most of our memories would surround the same things...funny, only us Great Grandchildren's memeories do that (overlap)...the Grandchildren, and cousin's all remember different things... I think because we played together and had so much fun. My memories are much like those of my cousin's...Shannon even wrote an amazing poem that covers most of my memories, but I'm gonna post mine here too... I remember the softness of her hands... even though she worked in the yard daily, she had the softest hands. she died working in her garden... well, almost. She was working in her garden when she had a heart attack, then when she got to the hospital, she told my Grams, that she was sorry, Grams had enough on her plate, and that she was sorry for adding to it. Then she died. God's gardens must be amazing right now. I remember every Sunday when I'd go to her house after Church, we'd have burnt toast, and Dr. Pepper. I never did like Dr. Pepper but somehow, I always loved it at her house. The grown ups would all sit around the table and visit and us kids would get to go outside (or was that we'd have to? I honestly don't know....) But we'd all get to go outside and play on the Willow tree's branches. We would swing on them like they were "Tarzan" vines... I know at least two of us actually BROKE our tail bones falling into the ditch from the branches... Grandmother would always go clip flowers for me before I left. My favorite were the "snapping" dragons. She could always make them snap. Then I'd get Lilly of the Valley, because they looked like little bells. She always made time for all of us. And the best herbs. OMG!!! That lady had the greenest thumb!!! She could grow herbs like no one else. In fact, there is an herb garden that she helped start at one of the public gardens in the town... I got to get married at my "Grandmother's Garden"... in front of the E.Chittum Memorial Herb Garden. It made my marriage all that more special. I think it sealed our fates. I have so many memories of her... not one of them bad. I'll have to get with Grams and make sure everything gets said...

Happy fourth everyone.
M