Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Spring (the season) (07/23/09)
-
TITLE: Aurellia's Crocus | Previous Challenge Entry
By Joanne Cordaro
07/29/09 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Aurellia’s tiny face lit up with excitement as she saw me pointing to the ground. She was squealing in delight long before she got to where I was standing next to the fence. I could hear her little legs in her snow pants going “whoosh, whoosh, whoosh” as she half ran, half toppled over to me. Even with her knit hat pulled down to her eyebrows and her big snow suit hood on, I could see the sheer glee in her face.
It was already mid-March, but you couldn’t tell that by the weather. Snow pants, boots, gloves, and hats were the wardrobe of the day. There would be no pretty short-sleeved, little white eyelet dresses at Easter this year. This year, Easter came in March. And, this March, was cold.
Little Aurellia bounced with excitement over to my spot near the fence, nearly losing her balance several times on the way. Together, we bent over to look closely at the ground. And there, just barely peeping out through the white snow crystals, was our first crocus blossom. Purple and white flowers with green delicate leaves, crocus are the universal sign that spring has sprung in the North where I live.
The winters are long up here, and this winter was especially long. I lost my Bob this year. After a long struggle with cancer, God mercifully took him Home in January. After 46 years of happy togetherness, his absence is difficult; really difficult. Aurellia has been the single beam of shining light in my sad, empty world. She is our first grandchild. We were both so thankful that Bob lived long enough to see her arrival. He had foretold of her coming with such confidence that none of us could find it in ourselves to really doubt him.
You see, Aurellia is sort of a miracle child. Her parents, our daughter and son-in-law, had difficulty conceiving. Bob, ever faithful, kept the parents-to-be on track. He counseled them to keep believing in God’s gifts. He even encouraged them to thank God for the gift of their precious child, even before conception had occurred. Against the medical odds, our Aurellia joined the family in June of last year. In a twist of bizarre fate, Aurellia’s arrival and Bob’s diagnosis of being terminal came in the same week! Talk about emotional extremes.
Bob made the most of his short time with her. He’d feed her, sing to her, dance around the room with her in his arms, and even changed a diaper or two. And when he became too ill to move around much, he’d ask us to place her on his lap. She may have been the most-kissed infant in history. Whenever he held her, he’d whisper to me that he loved how she smelled and wanted to keep that “baby smell” in his heart always.
Enthusiastic gardeners, Bob and I would wait with child-like anticipation each year to see the garden’s first crocus poke through the icy ground. We had planted them the year we moved into this house, before we even had children of our own. Winter always seems eternally long and dark up here in the North Country, but Spring springs forth new life and new hope. The crocus, ever faithful, like Bob, never let us down. They bloomed majestically each Spring.
Frankly, I didn’t know how I would make it through the winter. The thought of seeing the first colorful flecks of Spring without Bob, well, that was even harder in some ways. But, when God closes a door, he opens a window. He gave us Aurellia, and together we are sharing the miracle of Spring and its fulfilled promises of new birth and new life. And, somehow, I just know that Bob is in the garden with us this morning, smiling from ear to ear at the moment we are sharing.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Mona