Dear Reader:

When I got back home yesterday afternoon from Mt. Pleasant I immediately ran to check on my one cluster of buds/ blooms from “Big Red.”

In an earlier post, I explained how fragile the old geranium was and I had not seen one bloom all summer. Now it is so close to blooming completely but an accident and the upcoming weekend cold front might prove more than “Old Red” can take. I can only hope and pray that this will not be the case.

Hope was created a couple of weeks when I sighted buds on the end of one major stem shooting out from the plant…first I saw one bud, then another, and finally a cluster. I felt like if “Big Red” could bloom again one more time before the winter winds fall…it would be a sign, again, of perseverance and hope.

All was going quite well until two days ago. The bloom is at the tip end of one stem that sticks out quite far from the pot. I had a couple of smaller stakes trying to help stabilize it…but the stem grew higher than the stakes over time. Then when I went to check on it Thursday morning…the whole stem was dropping down on the bench with the cluster of buds crushed up against it..

I was so scared that the stem had popped…snapped from the weight. It had not completely broken in half… but it was definitely bruised and battered where the weight had pulled it down.

I scrambled all over the yard hunting for a longer stake and finally found Honey’s dragonfly stake (which stands in the pansy barrel)…grabbed it and it held the stem perfectly…but the other leaves are looking a little withered around that one section now and I am afraid that the nutrients aren’t getting to all the leaves and buds on this partially damaged stem.

I thought about the possible outcomes….and then I decided to  take a picture of how it looks right now… this very moment….It is stunning!….All the buds are in some stage of opening and all are unique and exquisite in their own right.

So no matter, if this is the closest “Big Red” comes to blooming in this late fall season… so be it… because this “floral friend” of mine has taught me a lot about hope, perseverance and inter-relationships. Hope is not a conclusion…. it is not a geranium filled with clusters of buds opening in all their brilliant shades of red. Madeleine L’ Engle explains it best:

“One of the things that we have learned, having opened the heart of the atom, is that nothing happens in isolation, that everything in the universe is interrelated… And another thing [scientists have] discovered is that nothing can be studied objectively, because to look at something is to change it and to be changed by it. Nothing loved is ever lost or perished.”

I am hoping and praying for the best for “Big Red“… but, I now realize, that this faithful friend has already taught me the lesson it was put here for seven years ago on my front porch…Never give up and bloom where you are planted.

So until tomorrow….”Big Red” you have changed my life by your presence in it….I hope for many more years with you…but if not…”Nothing loved is ever lost or perished.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Friday evening I kept Eva Cate and Jakie so John and Mandy could attend a birthday celebration for Kaitlyn given by her parents on her ‘official’ birthday. I spent the night so I could see Eva Cate’s dancing class go through their routines…they had pulled in chairs for parents and grandparents to watch on this ‘special’ dance class.. Too cute.

What Eva Cate lacks in natural agility or tapping rhythm she more than makes up for in creativity and determination. She is not afraid to try anything…even backward somersaults (with help from the instructor)…. where she emerges victorious… no matter the amount of pushing going on to help meet her goal. She dances to the beat of her own music in her own little zone…hilarious!

Anybody else in the class is welcome to do their thing too….not sure Eva Cate realizes the concept of dancing in unison...she is simply the star soloist and creates her steps as she goes along.

  Take a bow, sweet girl…you”done” good! Our little “Dancing Queen.”

Kaitlyn and her “little boys” on her birthday! Precious!

* Jakie gave everyone a scare yesterday after lunch….he ate something that he is allergic to (still not sure what….in this particular case) and broke out in welts…this time they were worse then normal and around his neck. Mandy and John rushed him to the emergency room at East Cooper….they were so kind and kept him for monitoring purposes for a little over an hour… but he came home rash free.

It is tough having a child with milk, egg, and nut issues….lots of tests and food samples…then just when you think you have it under control…something else pops up. But Jakie is fine and just kept on playing.

*Photos after John and Mandy got dressed for Kaitlyn’s celebration Friday night….Jakie adores brushing his teeth…and staying true to Auburn with his Dad.  

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Please say a little prayer for Lachlan….unfortunately the “bad ears” have been passed down from Rutledge to Lachlan…early, early Monday morning Mollie and I are taking him to MUSC to have tubes inserted.

Rutledge has only had a little success with his tubes …improving his ear aches….hoping Lachlan has better luck with his.