For all the blooms…the exotic and the ordinary…I give thanks <3

An oft quoted bit of wisdom here in the Midwest is that it is only safe to put your flowers out in pots after Mother’s Day. This year we had a stretch of downright summery weather and it was rather tempting to start working on those planters, but wisdom is wisdom and glad we are to have waited. 

This weekend we drug out our winter coats, ordered hot chocolates at ball games, carried the two small porch “spring” flowers of azalea and pansies into the garage at night and watched in horror as we saw white flake-like moisture blowing down the highway. We couldn’t bring ourselves to mouth the word “snow”.

So as I work on spring cleaning the inside of our house until the time comes when I can get to spring planting on the outside, I am dreaming and thinking about what I want to purchase and where I want to place flowers for our summer enjoyment. 

It reminds me of the year I decided to step outside my box of geraniums and impatiens and try something a bit more exotic. A gardening-gifted friend went with me to the market and helped me purchase some new-fangled plants with names I could not remember or pronounce. 

She helped me design the pots and gave me instructions about turning them a quarter turn at each watering along with feeding guides and helpful tips. They adorned our porch all summer and were very pretty, if not a bit of a project that I confess I grew weary of performing. 

To fill in the long porch that made up the front of our home, I went ahead and put the old tried and true geraniums in the largest pot and its coordinating, accompanying two stair-step pots under it. They hung out down there and did their job to make that end of the porch look summery underneath a hanging fern basket.

There was no quarter turning of pots and only the occasional deadheading which they loved and gifted me back with more full red blossoms the whole entire summer. I could reach the pots from the hose on the side of the house, so these got doused with a spray from that as I would fill the watering can to tote over to the diva’s around the steps and front door. 

When summer began to wane and the temps would drop at night, the newcomers died off and the empty pots were carried to the garage and replaced with pumpkins and gourds and pots of mums. 

But the geraniums bloomed on. Not until the frosts of November did they finally succumb. They graced our porch with blooms and deep green until the bitter end of the season. 

Somewhere on an old phone I have a recorded voice message about them. In it I talked about friendships I have had that were “geraniums.” They are faithful and they show up and they last. They aren’t fancy and they can hang in there if I get busy and forget to water them for a few days. 

I have had other friendships that were a little bit “extra”. They are kind of fancy and different and they required a bit of work as they are only for a short season. 

We need both. 

We need some special relationships that add something new to us and we need the ones that just steadily walk through the every day with us. 

Both need watering and tending and appreciating. 

One is not more important than the other. 

But as I said at the end of my recording with a choked and tearful voice, I type again today with a lump in my throat…

I am thankful for the fancy friends I have known. I am thankful for the way they have inspired me to try a new hobby or step out of my comfort zone. I am thankful for the fun they brought into the season we shared and while we no longer meet up for coffee or chat regularly, they have shaped me into a better person.

And then I am so very thankful for the geraniums God has given me in family and in friends. The faithful and the loving who accept me and who are so easy to love. The ones who brighten my days and I know I can count on. The ones who, even as we move into new seasons, we share a rich history from the old ones. 

We have stories together and we make new stories and their sturdy and enduring presence makes my life more beautiful every day. 

Maybe you can relate.

Hopefully you have some friendships that were fun and inspiring for a season and some that have endured the least of time.

Maybe you could just stop, as I do, and thank God for the gift of each and then make sure you are watering and tending the geraniums <3