A Garden

After Glen died and I was left alone I wanted desperately to keep his memory alive. I decided to create a “remembrance garden” in the tradition of the Medicine Wheel Gardens created by Native Americans. When my sister Susan visited we began the task. On April 17 2009 I wrote:

Sue and I cleared a space for the garden...(we) dug out the grass after marking the circumference.

Within the circle we marked four quadrants for plants of four colors: white, yellow, purple, and red. A landscape barrier of rubber marked the circumference. I ordered soil and bought plants. On May 10 I wrote:

Planted the miniature rhododendron with red blooms in the southwest section, white clematis in the northwest section, witch hazel in the northeast, and blueberry bush in the southeast...

I bought perennials in the four colors and planted them to the garden. I placed rocks around the circumference and three stepping stones to divide each of the four sections. In the center of the garden, surrounded by 6 sacred rocks, is the cane my sister’s husband made for Glen. After two years, the garden flourishes. The day before the 2-year anniversary of Glen’s death I wrote:

I am the one left behind. I sit on a white plastic chair gazing at the bright colored blooms emerging in the remembrance garden. Missing the spring colors inspired me to create the remembrance garden; I did not want to miss springtime again, even as I continue to miss Glen.

The garden is a sacred space where I feel Glen’s spirit. This is a place where I come when I need reassurance that life still holds promise.