A Sympathy Card

Jennifer's classmate lost her grandma last week after a very short battle with cancer. My heart goes out to them. Ever since I heard the news of her cancer, I've tried to imagine what they're going through. How would it feel to know your mother, who you thought was fine, only had weeks to live? Which really is worse, to lose your mother suddenly with no warning, or to know you have a very short time and watch her suffer? That's a question that has no answer. They're both hard.

I mentioned to Jennifer yesterday that she should give her friend a card. At first she couldn't understand why? So I explained that they're called sympathy cards and since Jennifer knows what it's like to have her grandma die, she could understand how her friend might be feeling. Like usual when we talk too much about grandma not being here anymore, Jennifer said "Stop talking about it. It just makes me want to cry when you talk about it!" I let the idea go and said no more about it.

The girls spent all afternoon playing outside after school today. The weather was beautiful and they had so much fun playing school! We've been noticing that some of grandma's marigolds are about ready to gather seeds from them, so I wasn't surprised when they excitedly showed me a whole butter bowl of seeds they'd gathered. I was surprised, however, when Jennifer came to me with shining eyes and said, "Mom, I could make Marla a card - you know, a sympathy card - and tell her that I know how it is to miss my grandma and sometimes you just feel like crying and then we could put some marigold seeds in something to give her and tell her they're from my grandma's flowers!"

Oh, little girl! Yeah. Sometimes you do just feel like crying!

I was thrilled to help her with her card and find a little bag to put seeds in to tuck inside. Even now tears fill my eyes just thinking about her sweet, innocent excitement over her idea. Mom would be so delighted to know her marigolds are being passed along for others to enjoy! Even more, she would be pleased to hear of her grandaughter's idea.

Your love and care for others is living on, Mom!