Edie's Morning Glories

If you were expecting some gorgeous photographs of morning glories, I'm afraid I will be disappointing you.  There will be pictures, but they are not gorgeous.  Yet.  Wait for it.

And you might be wondering, "Who is Edie?"  So I will start there.

Edie was the mother of one of my very best childhood friends.  But Edie was pretty much a mother and a friend to all of us kids.  Connie and I became very close starting in seventh grade, just the time when kids are beginning their teenage rebellion tour.  Mischievous would be the best word to describe Connie (although not all adults, my father included, would have used that term) but also fun-loving, curious, adventurous, and creative.  Connie got all those things from Edie.

Connie and Edie

Connie's father died when we were in seventh grade, a frightening event for all of us.  I can still see young Connie at the funeral home, all dressed up in her Sunday dress, and none of us knew what to say or do.  We didn't know what happened when a parent died.  But Edie knew.  She got busy making a life for Connie.  Edie worked at the local soda fountain, so she became quite familiar with all the teenagers in town.  Pretty sure she knew about all the mischief Connie created, too.  But she was a steady force in Connie's life, involved and loving.  And that didn't stop when Connie became an adult.  I would have a hard time coming up with a closer mother-daughter combo than Edie and Connie.

Edie died a few years ago, but her memory is strong.  Connie talks lovingly about so many things her mother taught her.  One of those things is growing flowers.  Connie has seeds from some of her mother's flowers, which she has planted at her own home.  Last summer, she sent me a package of morning glory seeds in the mail, warning me that they are perennial morning glories and tend to be just a little bit invasive.

But I love morning glories!  So I planted some seeds here and there and watched them grow.  Thought of Edie every time I looked at them.

I'd expected that this year, the morning glories would return in the same places.  I watched those places, eagerly awaiting the first signs of the returning plants.  Hmmm . . . they didn't seem to be coming back.  And then I looked nearby and found them popping up elsewhere!  Isn't that just like Edie!  Did I mention mischievous?  Morning glories in my strawberry patch, morning glories fighting for space in the nasturtium pots, morning glories just popping up through the stones on the ground!

So I transplanted some and left some where Edie had moved them.  As this is only the second year of their stay here, they are not as hardy as I expect them to be next year.  Can't wait to see where Edie moves them to then!

Meanwhile, every blossom brings a smile to my face and thoughts of Edie.  I am looking forward to blossoms in Pete's wedding shoes, when I can imagine some mischievous encounter in some other world by two spirits who were so full of life.  And love.





Post-script:  the very next morning: