Sunday, April 12, 2015

The Jim-Ed Memorial Rose

My Father died a few months after we moved to Georgia.  In fact the last time I saw him was when we stopped in Oklahoma where he was living.  We were driving from California to Georgia.  He looked great for his age, he was 80.  We could only stay a little while, we were trying to catch up to our friend who was driving the moving truck full of our stuff.
He showed us around his house, talked about his garden and gave us a huge bag of tomatoes to take with us.  He loved gardening and was always growing something.
Early in September we talked on the phone and he seemed to be in good spirits, my sisters who lived in the same town said he could be quite grouchy, but I never heard that when we talked.
A week later my younger sister called and said he'd had a heart attack and died before the ambulance could get him to the hospital.
It was so unexpected and so sad.  After the funeral my sister said she'd found 3 roses he'd ordered for his garden and never got a chance to plant.  There were 3 of them and we each took one.  It was bare root and still wrapped up so I put it in my suitcase.
Mac planted it for me and I dubbed it the Jim-Ed Memorial Rose, my Dads' name was James Edward.   He struggled at first and wasn't really thriving,  so after a couple of years Mac dug him up, put him in a pot and moved him to the garden.  He seems very happy there and I smile each time I see him.  He would have loved being planted in a garden.

14 comments:

  1. A white rose is beautiful. My parents had one that covered an arbor.

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  2. What a wonderful tribute, I'm sure your dad would be as pleased as punch that each of his children had a memorial such as this. The rose looks to be doing very well.

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  3. Very nice way to remember. I'll bet your dad would be pleased.

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  4. awww Wonderful post today and a very lovely way to remember your Father.
    Where was it planted before ?
    The garden is were it needs to be.

    cheers, parsnip

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  5. This is such a touching story. I love the fact that you were able to bring away with you something that he treasured, and will continue to remind you of him in years to come. The rose is beautiful! Wendy

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  6. What a lovely tribute to your Dad. I know that you still miss him. What a blessing to have had the kind of dad that you are left missing.

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  7. Oh what a fitting tribute to your father.
    xxx

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  8. That is a very nice memorial to your dad and I guess he is smiling about it too from wherever he is.

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  9. Thank you all for your kind comments.

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  10. A lovely tribute - and a lovely way to remember your Dad x

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  11. It's a beautiful rose and a sweet memory of your dad.

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