Beautiful flowers, it’s what I needed!

This weekend, I needed to see beauty. Roses, Fuschia, Salvia, Iris and more. Edibles—strawberries, thyme, and rosemary in full bloom. Apple trees and raspberries forming their fruits. It’s great to see plants expressing their growth. This has also been a time for memories to surface. I recall my youthful years on the farm, my parents planting an edible garden and my children spending time with us in our yard. These memories are present and remind me of adversities in my past. These memories, remind me of current challenges too! These memories make me smile, tear up and spur conversation.

As beauty unfolds in flowers, shrubs, trees and edibles, I am also reminded of memories of loved ones no longer with us. I remember planting flowers with my dad and my children. I remember mountain beauty with my aunt, along with my wife, children and my sister. As varied flowers bloom, these memories return. It’s amazing, the smells, the laughter, the conversations all return. Beauty has power. Beauty, reminds me of family, friends, relationships and companions.

Being an avid technologist, I wish that I could have captured those memories on video, a smart phone or digital camera. I wish that I could recall the vivid imagery, seen while walking through the mountain valleys, on my computer screen. I value the images I retain in my thoughts, and in today’s world, those I now capture with a phone. So many memories. I can just close my eyes and revel in the beauty that surrounds me. Today is a new day and I pledge to myself, to view my surroundings with a new eye, based on the memories that I will have tomorrow and in years to come. Memory is a gift and I treasure it daily.