AN ORCHID MADE OF STEELE

I used to wonder how we find our way after someone we love dies…

How do we climb out of the darkness and allow the light of joy to return to our eyes…

To show her gratitude to Deborah for doing something that gave her heart a lift…

a friend of hers returned the favor…and gave her an orchid as a gift.

Deborah gave that orchid sunlight and water and love…but no matter how she tried…the orchid lost its flowers…and we were pretty sure it died.

Deborah didn’t have the heart to throw it away…that would cause her too much pain…so she left it in the backyard to absorb the summer sunshine and cool off in the rain.

Nancy Steele was another friend of Deborah’s…their hopes and dreams they’d often share…until Nancy died too suddenly…too early…because cancer…does not care.

But their friendship didn’t end that day…to this day it survives…as long as Deborah can breathe and remember…Nancy remains alive.

Now we return to the orchid…because orchids were plants that Nancy grew…

“If only Nancy were here.” Deborah said when the orchid lost its bloom. “She’d know what to do.”

As if a testament to their friendship…and to the wonderful mystery of love’s power…

after a couple seasons in our back yard…that orchid began to flower.

And today it continues to flower…continues to bloom…and grow….

We figure Nancy’s taking care of it…from wherever angels go.

I no longer wonder how we find our way after someone dies…

how we climb out of the darkness and allow the light of joy to return to our eyes…

I know there is no panacea…no universal solution we’ll ever find…

but I also know the first step is to follow the light they’ve left behind.

A light that led to an orchid given in friendship that helped another friend to heal…

an orchid I imagine will bloom forever…after all…it’s an orchid made of Steele.