THE PEONY BUSH!

This is my Peony Bush.  It's not just any Peony Bush.  It's my mom's Peony Bush!  It makes me smile and think of mom every time I walk past it. 

I remember how proud my mom was of her peonies.  I remember her hollering at us children as we ran out to play in the backyard..."Stay off of my peonies"!  She didn't scream at us...she hollered it to us.  There is a difference.  Hollering is what you have to do when you are raising six children and you want them to hear you.  LOL!  And you know what?  We must have heard her, because we never ever broke her peonies!  We were such good children....well, some of us were.  LOL!

I feel blessed that I was able to get a start from my mom's peony bushes before her house was sold.  That was two years ago and now it is growing and healthy and has lots of buds ready to bloom!  Even Larry knows how special this bush is to me and he covered it the last two nights because of frost warnings.  It's the only flower or bush he covered.  He knows....even though he didn't grow up with the peony bushes....he knows.....

I have an awesome picture of my mom standing proudly by her peony bushes.  I'll have to find it and add it to this post.  It may be tucked away on my old computer, so hopefully I can still get to it.

I'm not real sure where mom's peony bushes came from.  They just seem to have always been there, so I'm thinking they came with the house.  But then again, my Grandma Dollie Ruddick, had peony bushes in Missouri.  So, maybe my mom carefully wrapped a start of them in wet newspaper to bring back to Indiana.

This is the first year mom's Peony Bush has had so many buds on it in my yard.  It will always be MOM'S peony bush....resting in my yard.  It's bringing me such joy watching it bud this year and I can't wait for the buds to open out into blooms.  My mom's treasured peony bush....what could be sweeter!  These are the kinds of things that bring such sweet memories.  While it may not be worth much in monetary value....it's worth so much more to me.  It is a part of my mom....it is a part of my childhood.  These are the things money can't buy.  They are the true treasures that my mom and dad left behind....the memories of my life with them.  These peonies take me back to my childhood...playing in the back yard...and smelling the peonies, but never ever breaking them off.  We learned very early on to have a respect for Mom's peonies!  They were a great place to hide Easter eggs though.  Or to hide behind when playing hide and seek....with care, of course.

My granddaugher, Jenna, with a peony from my mom's bush two years ago.

I'm thinking I just might have to pick mom one of her peonys this year and take to her.  :=)

I have a few other treasures....such as mom and dad's military ID cards to enter the base when my dad was serving in WWII.  Or, their original Marriage License.  Oh, and the pictures....old black and whites, including one with mom in a high chair as a baby or the one of my dad in full uniform during WWII.  These are the treasures that can never be replaced.  These are the treasures that I hold close to my heart.  These and the memories of the love they had for us.  My mind takes me back many times to the years growing up on West Fourth Street Road.  Those memories never fade.  Daddy bringing home a watermelon and cutting it up in the backyard for us kids.  Daddy buying me my first bicycle.  Mom cooking daddy breakfast every morning and waking up to the wonderful smell of bacon and the hog report blaring on the radio.  WJCD!  Or mom cooking us a good supper every night and hearing her holler out the door to round us up for supper. Daddy sending us for a gallon of ice cream and can of hershey syrup and all of us sitting around the living room eating it while watching tv together.  Oh the memories.  I even have memories of walking down two doors to visit my grandma...mom's mom.  Memories of walking to school right around the corner and on the next street.  Memories, memories, sweet memories!  I had a wonderful childhood...thanks to my wonderful mom and dad!  No one can ever take these memories from me.  They are worth more to me than any material thing.  I like to think my mom would be proud of me today, surviving everything I've gone through.

Until next time....look around and see the treasures in your life.  They are there....sometimes we just take them for granted.

Cindy