Dad’s roses

After years of working long hours 12 months each year, my father retired at a relatively young age. He was 55 when my brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and decided to retire in order to spend more time with my brother, and with mom.

My mother struggled so much after losing her son to cancer at the young age of 27. She basically stopped living, and never recovered the energy that she once had. Dad then took over the responsibility of everything that mom could no longer do — gardening, Christmas celebration, birthday celebrations, engaging with the rest of us. For over 30 years he lovingly took care of mom, worked full-time volunteering, and continued to learn.

One of dad’s new passions was growing roses. He wanted to do it right, and knew that he didn’t have any expertise in gardening, so he signed up for a workshop on growing roses.

A few days ago I arrived at my mom’s house to give my sister a week break from caring for mom. Tending the garden is a way I can get outside while still allowing mom to see that she is not alone. I try to remember the instructions that my father had passed on to me about how and where to cut the stems to stop the rose bushes from growing wild and I definitely would benefit from a refresher course!

These two roses pictured above were hiding behind others already in full bloom, but somehow they jumped out at me. They are another way to remind mom of the care and love of dad.