As I was growing up, the first weeks of school consisted of wearing our newly purchased dresses and having our picture taken in front of mom’s rosebush. In our front yard, my sister and I stood, with one hand outreached towards a single rose. My sister on one side of the bush, while I was on the other. We smiled with our eyes squinting from the sun that shone on our face. Mom was so proud of her rose bushes, after all it was not easy growing anything in the desert sands of Las Vegas. However, my sister and I complied, as we were anxious to get to school and see our friends that we have not seen since Spring. … I bought a house six months after Jonny died. This was a new adventure after almost 20 years of renting. The garden was overgrown from lack of maintenance. I was working full time as well as obtaining a master’s degree but had unexplainable driving force to put the yard back in shape. The rose bush in the back yard looked parched, dull and lifeles...
On the beach at night alone, As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song, As I watch the bright stars shining—I think a thought of the clef of the universes, and of the future. by Walt Whitman