The Comfort of Memories

Comfort can come in many forms. It can be a touch from a loved one, a special word of wisdom from a friend or sometimes, even a card from someone you might not even know. This year, for me, comfort has come in the delicate form of a beautiful purple and white orchid or the sound of cascading water from a nearby waterfall.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my father-in-law’s passing and it is still hard for me to believe that it has been a year since his heart failed him during his usual Sunday brunch. My father-in-law spent most of his life as a lawyer who also ran the local VFW. After his retirement, my in-laws moved to Florida and my father-in-law spent most of his time with a camera in one hand and a shovel in the other. He started growing native plants and quickly moved up to growing orchids. He would grow them in pots and attach them to the various trees in his yard. It always amazed me that these ugly, gangling bulbs in pots just hanging off the palm trees would grow to the beautiful orchids that often filled his home.

There is a lovely lady who helped my father-in-law when he was sick and who now comes in to work on the house. She has become the nurturer now and has been taking care of these orchids for us. On our visit last month, after a very long drive down, we were greeted by one lovely purple orchids and one very delicate white orchid. It really felt like we were coming home to the same home we have always loved visiting and will continue to love as long as we can.

Five months later we lost my mother-in-law to cancer. Is was yet another tough blow to an already turbulent year. She had been battling lung cancer with such courage and grace that we didn't even know it was that bad until it was too late. She passed away on my son’s 17^th birthday but this time we had the opportunity to say our goodbyes to her.

One of my fond memories of my mother-in-law was her love of waterfalls. Whenever someone new came to the house, my mother-in-law would take them around the inside of the house and then lead them outside to the front porch. This is what she really wanted them to see; the beautiful view of the waterfall and oak trees from her front porch. This is the true reason she fell in love with her house. On most late afternoons you could find her reading or sleeping on her front porch; the sounds of the cascading water in the background and the waning sun filtering through the leaves.

On the morning she died, that same waterfall stopped working within a few minutes of her passing. Our caretaker, who had become friends with the maintenance man, asked if anyone had shut off the waterfall that morning to work on it. He found it odd that for some reason, the waterfall that morning had just stopped working for a couple hours and then had come back on later. I feel as though my mother-in-law’s beloved waterfall was somehow telling us how important she was and that it too would truly miss her.

We keep that memory close to our hearts and every time we visit, the sounds of that same waterfall now give my husband and I some comfort knowing that we will love her little sanctuary just as much as she did. That is why whenever we are visiting, we will take the time to sit out front and think about what a wonderful person she was.

We will continue to visit their house as long as we can and when we do, we will bask in the sight of my father-in-law’s elegant orchids and listen to the beautiful sounds of mother-in-law’s waterfall and we will find comfort.