blooming

Recently we had lost my Grandpa. As the summer sun has set it sights on warming us all over, it also has blossomed the beautiful sunflowers that he loved so much. My Nanny, the children's GG (great-grandma) was so proud to show off her wonderful blooms today. She has found her own little patch of sunshine, a smiling village right in her backyard. Pop loved those sunflowers, she said. They actually grew where she had a big bowl of birdseed and the birds seem to pick out what they want and throw the sunflower seed into the earth below, perhaps to enjoy the golden yellow stalks too, who knows really. Anyway, as they all face the sun, as sunflowers do, Nanny pointed out that one did not. This one simply stared at the house, somehow giving us comfort with it's raggedy top and content face. I know that Pop is watching out for her, watching over the house, watching where we gather as a family to love, to mourn, to sit in silence. He is there in that wrong way sunflower, he is there in his chair and at his desk. The one thing that saddens me is that although I can make sure that my children know him by face, in photo, they will never really know him like I did. My job is to take those things about him that I cherish and pass them down, to connect those most important people in my life.