Flowers, Losses, and Wins

Well, I guess I better throw out my second Mother’s Day bouquet. Maybe I can find a pretty iris from the yard to replace it. The night before Mary Ellen and daughter Brianna left to drive Brianna to Disney for another summer’s work, I’d heard that Bri, her brother Trent, and cousin Sam were having Friday night supper together. Come to find out, they bought their supper at the grocery store and came out to the farm and had a picnic on the deck. I was at Katherine’s. When I left her house and was pulling out of her loop street onto Duncan, I saw a car stop and kids yelling and wondered who those youngsters were.

Then as I turned the corner, here they came up behind me and presented me with a lovely bouquet that they said was a belated Mother’s Day gift. We had a laughing gathering until another car came up and I had to move on. There is nothing so energizing as young people out having fun! Their flowers came just as I needed to throw away the lovely bouquet Gerald had given me for being the mother of his children, so I have enjoyed them.

Last Saturday rather than this weekend was my memorial participation. I squeezed in a trip down to Busby Cemetery in Goreville between visits to Katherine’s house. I had bought artificial flowers in a timely fashion a few weeks before and they were waiting in the car. I felt bad that I had neglected the annual trip to Busby for a couple of years, and I was determined to have flowers on my parents’ and others’ graves this year.

As little girl, the third Sunday in May was always important to our family because this day was called Decoration Day where my father’s family were buried. Daddy explained to me once that because so many people in that strongly connected community had family buried in more than one cemetery, it was decided to designate different Sundays for different cemeteries. Then people could observe more than one day to decorate graves. I remember the flowers made of crepe paper that people prepared for the graves. Mother usually had iris and other fresh flowers to put in fruit jars and leave on our ancestors’ graves.

Three of my great grandparents’ babies are buried and marked with flat rocks stuck into the earth. Three of my daddy’s baby sisters are there near his parents’ graves, and he and his siblings placed an engraved stone for them. It was always extremely important to my aunt Myrtle, the only sister who lived to adulthood, that the little girls have commemorative flowers. Daddy taught me to honor the graves by not stepping on them but walking between them. This year as I walked between them, my elderly balance was challenged by the uneven grassy ground. I knew I might not get back to put flowers there again.

Yesterday was a lazy rainy day for me, and the rain today will probably make it another one. Yesterday I had to run to town for an INR, but I was back home in little over an hour. It was made into a very pleasant trip because I was able to accidentally visit with Saundra Jent just a bit in the waiting room before and after my INR. We had not seen each other in person for years although I consider her a very special and favorite person. She used to teach our kids at church and entertain them at her home. Her mother Marguerite Miller Hill was the first person who came to visit us when we moved to farm in Williamson County. I so loved Marguerite. I used to tell my kids if I had a flat tire or some other disaster kept me from meeting their school bus after a ball game, they could always go to Marguerite or Joyce Jean’s and either would take care of them. The disaster never happened, but having such wonderful friends gave me peace of mind just in case.

We spent last weekend watching softball. We were shocked last Friday night when our Texas A&M lost to Texas 5-0. All five of their scores were homeruns! One player had not had a hit since Valentines Day and broke out of her slump with one of these runs! We came back the next day and won against Boston and then Texas, so the chance to move on came the next day against undefeated Lafayette Louisiana. A&M thought they had won that game in the 8th inning and were cheering when the umpire declared the batter had stepped over lines no longer present in the batter’s box. So they lost 9-8 in the ninth inning, and thus did not get to play yet another second game against Lafayette. Freshman Samantha Show had pitched so many innings in this tourney that the Lafayette crowd gave her quite an ovation, which was certainly deserved.

Oregon, however, came through their regional undefeated and will play their first game in the Super Regional against UCLA tomorrow at 8:30 pm CST on ESPN. The 16 regional tourneys have been reduced to eight super regionals. So there are fewer games to watch this weekend. Some of the super regionals started yesterday. Again this tourney is double elimination. Their second game will be Sunday at 6 CST on ESPNU. If necessary, the third game will be Sunday at 9 CST on ESPNU.