"I Could Have Planted Flowers!"
This may be a little off the message of health, but I think it applies—although I’m not sure what made me think of these events.
A couple of years ago an older friend of mine was in a nursing home for several months for rehabilitation. Whenever I would visit her, there were always the two same ladies sitting together in the lobby. One of the ladies would always wave at me like she thought she knew me, and they would both smile. I would smile and wave back.
One day when I went by—only one of the ladies was there. The waving lady was missing in action, so I went over and asked the other smiling lady where her friend was. She said, “Friend? I don’t have any friends.” So, I tried to explain to her that I was asking about the ladies who always sat next to her—to which she replied, “I could have planted flowers!”
Well, I realized her elevator didn’t reach all of her floors, but I walked away wondering what she meant. She obviously felt regret. Maybe if she had planted some flowers or some seeds she would have had some friends or would have realized that she did have a friend who sat by her everyday.
Another similar experience was a conversation I had with another older lady about why she didn’t want to plant flowers in her front yard. She said, “Well, people who walk by will just steal them.” I asked her if she meant that they would pick them. She said, “Yes, steal them.” She had a better elevator, but she was still skipping some floors as well.
As the leaves are beginning to fall off of the trees, I vow to plant some flowers next spring and hope someone steals them.
“There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign. It was in this hope that the arts were invented. Sign-posts on the way to what may be. Sign-posts toward greater knowledge.” Robert Henri from The Art Spirit.
A couple of years ago an older friend of mine was in a nursing home for several months for rehabilitation. Whenever I would visit her, there were always the two same ladies sitting together in the lobby. One of the ladies would always wave at me like she thought she knew me, and they would both smile. I would smile and wave back.
One day when I went by—only one of the ladies was there. The waving lady was missing in action, so I went over and asked the other smiling lady where her friend was. She said, “Friend? I don’t have any friends.” So, I tried to explain to her that I was asking about the ladies who always sat next to her—to which she replied, “I could have planted flowers!”
Well, I realized her elevator didn’t reach all of her floors, but I walked away wondering what she meant. She obviously felt regret. Maybe if she had planted some flowers or some seeds she would have had some friends or would have realized that she did have a friend who sat by her everyday.
Another similar experience was a conversation I had with another older lady about why she didn’t want to plant flowers in her front yard. She said, “Well, people who walk by will just steal them.” I asked her if she meant that they would pick them. She said, “Yes, steal them.” She had a better elevator, but she was still skipping some floors as well.
As the leaves are beginning to fall off of the trees, I vow to plant some flowers next spring and hope someone steals them.
“There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign. It was in this hope that the arts were invented. Sign-posts on the way to what may be. Sign-posts toward greater knowledge.” Robert Henri from The Art Spirit.
posted by Anonymous | 8:32 PM
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