Magnolias

This was on my Yahoo breast cancer group. I really like the saying at the end.

MAGNOLIAS

By Edna Ellison
I spent the week before my daughter's June wedding running last-minute trips to the caterer, florist, tuxedo shop, and the church about forty miles away. As happy as I was that Patsy was marrying a good Christian young man, I felt laden with responsibilities as I watched my budget dwindle . . . so many details, so many bills, and so little time. My son Jack was away at college, but he said he would be there to walk his younger sister down the aisle, taking the place of his dad who had died a few years before. He teased Patsy, saying he'd wanted to give her away since she was about three years old!

To save money, I gathered blossoms from several friends who had large magnolia trees. Their luscious, creamy-white blooms and slick green leaves would make beautiful arrangements against the rich dark wood inside the church. After the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, we banked the podium area and choir loft with magnolias. As we left just before midnight, I felt tired but satisfied this would be the best wedding any bride had ever had! The music, the ceremony, the reception - and especially the flowers - would be remembered for years.

The big day arrived - the busiest day of my life - and while her bridesmaids helped Patsy to dress, her fiance Tim, walked with me to the sanctuary to do a final check. When we opened the door and felt arush of hot air, I almost fainted; and then I saw them - all the beautiful white flowers were black. Funeral black. An electrical storm during the night had knocked out the air conditioning system,and on that hot summer day, the flowers had wilted and died. I panicked, knowing I didn't have time to drive back to our hometown, gather more flowers, and return in time for the wedding.Tim turned to me. "Edna, can you get more flowers? I'll throw away these dead ones and put fresh flowers in these arrangements."I mumbled, "Sure," as he be-bopped down the hall to put on his cufflinks.

Alone in the large sanctuary, I looked up at the dark wooden beams in the arched ceiling. "Lord," I prayed, "please help me. I don't know anyone in this town. Help me find someone willing to give me flowers -in a hurry!" I scurried out praying for four things: the blessing of white magnolias, courage to find them in an unfamiliar yard, safety from any dog that may bite my leg, and a nice person who would not get out a shotgun when I asked to cut his tree to shreds.

As I left the church, I saw magnolia trees in the distance. Iapproached a house . . . no dog in sight. I knocked on the door and an older man answered. So far so good . . . no shotgun. When I stated my plea the man beamed, "I'd be happy to!" He climbed a stepladder and cut large boughs and handed them down tome. Minutes later, as I lifted the last armload into my car trunk, I said, "Sir, you've made the mother of a bride happy today.""No, Ma'am," he said. "You don't understand what's happening here.""What?" I asked."You see, my wife of sixty-seven years died on Monday. On Tuesday I received friends at the funeral home, and on Wednesday . . He paused. I saw tears welling up in his eyes. "On Wednesday I buried her." He looked away. "On Thursday most of my out-of-town relatives went backhome, and on Friday - yesterday - my children left. I nodded."This morning," he continued, "I was sitting in my den crying out loud. I miss her so much. For the last sixteen years, as her health got worse, she needed me. But now nobody needs me. This morning I cried, 'Who needs an eighty-six-year-old wore-out man? Nobody! 'I began to cry louder. 'Nobody needs me!' About that time, you knocked, and said, "Sir, I need you." I stood with my mouth open.

He asked, "Are you an angel? The way the light shone around your head into my dark living room . ." I assured him I was no angel. He smiled. "Do you know what I was thinking when I handed you those magnolias?""No.""I decided I'm needed. My flowers are needed. Why, I might have a flowerministry! I could give them to everyone! Some caskets at the funeralhome have no flowers. People need flowers at times like that and I have lots of them. They're all over the backyard! I can give them to hospitals, churches - all sorts of places. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to serve the Lord until the day He calls me home!"I drove back to the church, filled with wonder. On Patsy's weddingday, if anyone had asked me to encourage someone who was hurting, Iwould have said, "Forget it! It's my only daughter's wedding, for goodness' sake! There is no way I can minister to anyone today."But God found a way. Through dead flowers.

"Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is.The way you cope with it is what makes the difference."

Another year older

Having a birthday is rather anticlimatic, as I have been thinking myself as being 53 all year. Still do. Being 52 was just too hard. Diagnosed with breast cancer and losing my best friend.

I am still stiff in the morning, but overall feeling better. I get stiff when I sit too long, so try not to. I scrubbed the tile in our bathroom this past week, as the grout was looking bad. I should have sealed it when we moved in. It is now, and here's hoping it keeps it looking well. The next project will be the front entry and guest bath. Then the kitchen, which is the worst.

I need to get up into the attic this week to get it rearranged after we had the insulation people up there. They moved stuff out of their way, now I have to put it back. I need to get a cooler down for Thanksgiving. Also gonna have Logan and John help me put a few things up there.

Wayne has had 2 overnite pulse oximetry testing. He failed the first one miserably. He spent the majority of the night below 90%. The second one was done for Medicare. I am sure by week's end he will be set up with a concentrator and using oxygen with his CPAP. Wayne doesn't see that having low sats is a problem. But he spends most of the day sleeping in his chair. He desats when he moves, so he tries not to move. He doesn't realize how hard this is on his heart and the rest of his body. When he told his daughter Laurie that he might be going on oxygen, she started crying and couldn't talk to him any more.

I've got a good start on quilting the quilt for Laurie for her office assistant. I hope to have it completely done by next week so that we can take it up to her. Don't want to ship it.

Again, just not in the old Christmas spirit. Thank goodness, really don't have to buy anybody anything. We did buy a larger tree to put in the sunroom. I have found some brick clips so I am gonna put a wreath over the garage, and offer to do the same for Clara.