Flowers

I plant a rose today along with several other flowers at the place where Colby passed. Dear friends in East Tennessee sent funds specifically for something special and this is what it was used for. You know who you are. I am grateful. Thank you!

The dirt is packed hard and it takes half an hour to dig a hole big enough and deep enough for the rose. It is a red rose and hardy, which is good. There is not much sunlight here. I mix composted cow manure into the packed rocky soil and place the rose into the hole, then fill the rest of the dirt in around it. I brought water in a garden tub in the back of the truck and pour a pail slowly, in stages, over and around the rose. If the plant survives, it will look nice here. Southern roses are tough. I think it has a good chance. I will check back in several days with more water. I also plant iris and bulbs. Later I will hack together a bench or two out of scrap wood and old tree limbs. Colby taught me how to do this last summer and it makes a nice low seat. The style is typical Colby and is perfect for this spot. A friend of Colby's painted stones a pretty blue and placed them here in the shape of a heart. They look nice. I hope eventually this will be a place for all his friends to sit and think, to remember, to find peace.

After the planting I stay a while. I try to find a sense of Colby. I try to feel the emotion of the site. But I am back in a numb state. It was an emotional day and a half but by noon all emotion left. I know it will return. Soon. In the meantime, I am relieved at the reprieve.