Green Thumb?

I was in Indianapolis this past weekend for my Uncle Rex's funeral services, and of course there were many times people mentioned my mother. There was quite a broad range of comments made from family and friends, and I just wanted to share some of the most meaningful here. Most of the relatives that remain in the Lawrence family are Mom's cousins, and I had the opportunity to speak with several of them this weekend. Patty, affectionately known to most as "Zeke" and her daughter were telling me they remember how beautiful Mom was, with her long blond hair. They all talked about how funny she was, and they were all so devastated to hear about her current condition. I spoke with a good friend of her family and one of her former teachers, Pat Crafton, and she has a daughter named Donna, after my mother. What a compliment that was! Pat recalled how much my mother loved the Craftons' cats, and said she was not at all surprised that the apple didn't fall too far from the tree (i.e. I=Crazy Cat Lady :))



Perhaps the most intriguing comment came from my "Aunt" Sherri, though. She and I were discussing their gorgeous landscaping, and she mentioned that Mom had quite the green thumb and she was "SO good with plants". Now, I thought this was hilarious at the time, but thinking about it now, it is so true! We never had a houseplant casualty at any of the houses that I can remember. She had such a large number of plants in Williamstown that my cat thought it was a jungle, and we dubbed it "Vietnam". I remember Mom spending countless hours gardening at the old house, pulling weeds and planting annuals. Her azeleas were the envy of Edgwood, and the Magnolia tree in the front is something I would have loved to take with me to the new house. I loved to go help Mom pull weeds and put out the beetle catchers to capture the Japanese Beetles that threatened her beloved Japanese Maple Tree. I don't know how this green thumb detail escaped my attention when it seems so obvious now. Unfortunately though, this quality seems to have skipped a generation with me! Maybe I will buy Whitney a plant as a homecoming gift and see if she inherited the green thumb gene :)