It was Flower Communion Sunday at Church today. For those who aren’t familiar with this UU tradition, congregants bring flowers which are then distributed during the service. The idea is that the individuality of each flower, like each member, combines to create something even more beautiful than its parts, and each person takes a flower to remind themselves of that beauty.
I took a daisy, because it reminded me of the Wise and Wonderful Betty Gray. All day, I’ve been thinking of the story she told me about the day someone said, “Betty, you have the loudest laugh I’ve ever heard.” I can’t remember who the speaker was, but it stuck with me because it was true. Grandma had the most wonderful, big, big laugh. There was no doubt when something caught her funny because she didn’t hold back at all.
I’ve been thinking of her because this morning Ian found a coupon on the kitchen table, all folded up. He picked it up and said, “‘Oh, no!’ cried Mommy, ‘What happened to this?'” Grandma would have LOVED that story. And she would have loved to hear how tall he looked standing at the end of King Street watching the boats and the ducks yesterday. And she’d have been beside herself if I called to tell her about Ian saying, “Mommy, you banged the door so you gotta go in time out” after I shut the car door too hard. (Well, really, doesn’t some of that kind of make you want to shoot milk out your nose?) And I, myself, would have loved calling her to tell her about it, because nothing beat being able to say, “I made Grandma laugh today.”
