Gathering Rosebuds

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may, 
Old Time is still a-flying; 
And this same flower that smiles today 
Tomorrow will be dying. 
BY ROBERT HERRICK

I had originally thought the above quote (of which I could only remember the first line) came from The Prophet but apparently not. And now that I think about it I 'hear' it in Robin Williams's voice as he played English professor John Keating in one of my all time favourite movies: Dead Poet's Society. No matter.  It meant a lot to me on the last day of Dane and Jonathan's visit and I shared my thoughts about it over lunch at The Eddy in Kakabeka Falls  with Dane, Jonathan and Dane's aunts, Brenda and Lea (also my dear friends and ex-sisters-in-law). I had drawn a card, Rose Garden, from my oracle deck (Oracle of Mystical Moments) that morning and as I was enjoying the windows down, music blasting drive out to Kakabeka Falls, half an hour away to meet up with everyone, that quote came into my mind. Along with the thought:  This is what I'm doing right now. Gathering rosebuds. Moments to turn into memories as a buffer against life's storms. A privilege to be aware of that, to embrace with hands and heart those precious moments and tuck them away safely. To preserve their scent as much as possible. The whole wonderful wedding weekend and the remaining few days that Lea was here (she lives in southern Ontario) centred around gathering rosebuds.

It seems that I needed to gather these rosebuds and use them much sooner than expected after a counselling session this past Monday that left me feeling weepy with a tangled black knot of grief the next day.  And the day after. And the day after that. Lots of old feelings to process apparently. Just when I thought I had. Damn! Dad and Sandy are in the process of sorting through items in Dad's house to prepare it for the sale at the end of July and gathering items for a yard sale. I find it  difficult to go through items, to choose this or that to keep or sell. It's good that they, with the help of Sandy's daughter, Robyn, do that.  But it doesn't make the process any easier, my emotions any easier to untangle. My counselor suggested that it can be hard to play catch up with other people's faster paced agenda when I need to process things, big life things, in my own time. However, it is as it is. And it needs to get done. And it's not my forte so it's good that Dad has the help  he requires.

​Feeling weary from these feelings (not even as recent as going through house items but from heaven knows when! All my counselor had done was question how I felt about my miscarriage over 30 years earlier), I returned home from a lovely, gentle visit with my friend Val on Wednesday to a gorgeously decorated envelope containing ATCs from a swap partner in the US. I sat outside in the sunshine with a peanut butter and banana sandwich, a good cuppa in one of my favourite cups beside our flowering bleeding heart and opened the envelope which was decorated with washi tape announcing : "Hello Beautiful".  My ATC partner sent the beautiful ATCs below. Heartwarming and uplifting. 

​And I gathered more rosebuds. May your day be filled with rosebuds for you to gather.