Saturday Ramblins, Vol. 2, No. 4 (February 20, 1999)

My grandmother, Granny, has always been a strong, take-charge kind of lady. She often keeps us entertained with stories from the 'olden days'. But since the death of my grandfather on December 11, she had been very sad and quiet. Granny cared for my grandfather and he took care of the financial things so, suddenly, she had a lot to learn. I am sure that it was often overwhelming for her.

One day while visiting her, she told me a story … one that I am going to share with you.

Granny missed my grandfather very much and she prayed to God that he would give her a 'sign' that he was in heaven and doing fine. As she waited for this sign, she went about her daily chores.

About a week passed, and one day while walking in her backyard, Granny noticed a small sprig of green sprouting in her flowerbed. As each day passed, she continued to watch that sprig of green grow. She wondered why something was trying to grow in the middle of winter, and growing at such a fast rate! She checked the rest of her flowerbeds. Nothing else was sprouting.

A hard rain came, and this stalk of green was knocked over by the pounding it received. Granny thought, You are trying so hard to achieve the impossible, let me see if I can help you out. She tied the green stalk to a nearby stake with a piece of ribbon.

After Christmas, Granny noticed that the stalk now had buds on it. She also realized that this courageous plant was a gladiola. Now she was really puzzled because she knew that gladiolas were spring flowers…often blooming around Easter.

A frost came one night -- a killing frost, as the older people call it. Granny checked on her single gladiola stalk. The buds were fine! How had they managed to survive the freeze?

A few days later, Granny walked by this flowerbed and was amazed to see that the buds were open. The gladiola was blooming! In December! What beautiful peach blossoms! As she shook her head in wonder, and started walking back to the house, she suddenly stopped. Like a bolt of lighting from the sky, it hit her: this was her sign, the sign from God she had been waiting for.

You see, gladiolas were my grandfather's favorite flower and peach gladiolas were his favorite. Granny planted multitudes of gladiola bulbs every year in the early spring, so he would have them to enjoy around Easter. Bulbs of every color. Granny knew that only God could have enabled this flower to grow in the winter, and to grow so fast.

That peach gladiola ended up with seven blooms on it, the "perfect number" according to the bible. So now her heart is at peace, knowing that God is taking care of Paw-Paw and everything is going to be OK.