A sunflower and my mother’s remarkable resilience

  • May 9, 2024
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My wonderful friend, Kathryn Gilbert, sent this photo to me. She is preparing to plant the sunflower seeds we distributed at my mother’s Celebration of Life ceremony.

In my favorite photo of Mom, she is encouraging the sunflower she planted in “Oma’s Patch” to grow. And it did! It grew so tall that it towered over all the raised beds at her senior residence. That summer, her Jack-in-the-Beanstalk became a tourist attraction for residents and visitors.

The next summer, Mom decided she didn’t want to plant another sunflower because it took up too much room in her garden. But the original plant had dropped seeds, and Sunflower 2.0 made its appearance — a symbol of Mom’s joy and remarkable resilience.

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