By Kathy Van Peteghem
Love is an emotion that knows no age nor boundaries and can be expressed in many ways. In this February issue, I would like to share one of my personal childhood stories that embraces that emotion we define as love.
At age 4, I knew that today my mom and dad were celebrating their 7-year Wedding Anniversary. I wanted to do something special to show them how much I loved them. So it started with making them a hand-drawn card. Sitting at my little art table with my box of 64-color crayons, I pulled out several of my bright favorite colors and began decorating the front side of the card. Two stick figures, one of my mom and one of my dad, were drawn, holding hands and smiling at each other. Inside the card, I drew myself wearing a heart t-shirt and jeans, then added an orange cat (because I liked cats and knew someday I would have one). Next, I carefully wrote in my finest cursive penmanship a big “Happy Anniversary (phonetically, of course) and the words “I Love you” along with my name! Finishing the details, I added a smile to my face and my cat’s face and drew some more outside scenery like trees, bees, butterflies, and birds feeding their young in their nests to indicate the month of May.
Satisfied with the card, my next thought was what to do about a gift. I would have to think about it.
As I did, I could hear the robins singing. The wind gently tugged at my shear bedroom curtains, waving at me to come outside and play…. and the lilacs agreed, adding their fragrant undertones to the breeze entering my open window from the neighbor’s yard. Spring and summer were my favorite times of the year. I loved feeling the warm sunshine and gentle breeze on my face and hearing birds sing, bees hum, and crickets chirp.
In my mind, several ideas came and went, but none were right until I finally came up with one brilliant idea. It would require a little planning on my part and the help of a neighbor because they had the resources… A living red rose!
Fortunately, my mom and I liked to walk. One nice day, we toured the new neighborhood we had recently moved into. During that walk, I spied a fence line of glorious fragrant red roses. Today, I could have one cut. After all, it was a good symbol of love. I didn’t have any money to offer, but maybe the person who lived in the house with the roses would understand about love and be kind to let me have just one red rose. It was worth a try to ask.
Thus, when my mom let me out with my box of art supplies with instructions to stay around the front yard and not venture near the end of the driveway, I stayed safe and away from passing cars; I said, “ok,” Knowing I understood, she went back inside …but not for long. She was a caring mom who kept her loving eyes on me. I quickly hurried on my way, mindfully walking on the opposite side of the sidewalk near the road to remain safe from cars.
Soon, I stood in front of the house with the roses. Inhaling a deep breath, I walked up the 5 gray wooden porch steps, stretched my arm high over my head, pushed the little round button that rang the doorbell and waited. (Hopefully, the people who lived there were at home.) Slowly, the screen door opened, and an elderly lady wearing a garden apron looked out and then down directly at me. Not sure what my motive was, she waited patiently for me to begin to speak. Now a bit shy, I told her my name and that my parents were celebrating their 7th Wedding Anniversary today. I needed a gift to go with my card. Would she be able to pick one of her roses for me to give as a gift to my parents?
Not saying a word, she sized me up and down and then replied that she needed to go and get her cutting shears while I was told to go over to the cluster to find the perfect rose to cut. Bursting with happiness, I hurried down those porch steps and over to the cluster of red, healthy, fragrant roses and looked over each one. This was going to be a hard decision because they were all beautiful. We took time to get acquainted as I inspected every red rose. It was a gift and needed to be perfect. She smiled and told me how she grew and cherished her roses, and it was a surprise that someone my age would appreciate them as she did. Eventually, I found one, and she snipped it. As she had her gardening gloves on, and they protected her hands from the thorns, she suggested walking with me carrying the rose until I could give it to my parents…that way, I wouldn’t get poked by the heavy thorns. I agreed, and we both headed back down the sidewalk.
You can imagine what my mom was thinking as I walked back up our porch with an elderly lady carrying a single red rose and donning her apron and gardening gloves. My mom had already noticed that I was not in the front yard, and she gave me “that look,” which meant…you had some explaining to do because you were told to remain in the front yard to play and not wander off…
The elderly neighbor quickly interrupted my mom’s thoughts as she explained how her sweet little daughter came over to ask her permission to pick one of her red roses because her parents were celebrating a 7th Wedding Anniversary. She knew a red rose from my bunch would be perfect for those celebrating true love.
Softening her facial expression (because she knew I was safe and asked permission for the rose), my mom accepted the gift of love (the rose) from both of us. She knew what a special gift that neighbor had given to allow her daughter to cut one of her prized roses because she knew from other neighbors that the elderly woman with the roses never cut them – even for herself. This day was a heart-centered experience.
From that day on, I have learned to always live from your heart. The deeds we do and the decisions we make from the heart…especially in pure love… are the most profound and touching in our lives and those we connect with.
Kathy Van Peteghem enjoys the creative side that embraces the body, mind, and spirit. She is a writer, photographer, musician, artist, gardener-herbalist, and nature lover who releases a stressful day with tap dancing and Gi-gong. She loves living life from the heart and hopes to inspire others to do the same. ktvan@comcast.net
