A Simple Wish....Answered

In '96 I saw my dream come true. Our little family moved up on the hill into a little house near woodlands, with a view of the Green Mountains. There was a little brook that babbled in the back yard during the spring and we saw rabbits,turkeys, deer and even a moose. As a girl I would read Mother Earth magazines while other girls read teen magazines. I had grown up living with my Grandparents between the moves that are part of a military family. I learned how to cook and can because, in an Italian family, the kitchen is the heart and everyone pitches in. I took all of this with me up on the hill, with visions of a small vegetable garden and a wonderful yard perfect for flowers.

Five years later I came down the hill. Dreams shattered, a broken marriage and wondering if I was making the right decision for all of us. The girls would come with me and we would live 10 miles away with my parents, both of which had serious health issues and needed me. As I drove down the hill and I could see from the main road, the only flowers that I was allowed to plant. My beloved sunflowers and burgundy Hollyhocks. I left that day with tears in my eyes and a wish that someday I would have at least the hollyhocks to I would know that everything was going to be OK, I would be on the right path.

This Spring Tim watched as a plant grew in an odd place. It was growing in a crack of concrete as one walked out the back door and onto the stone patio. A bird must have dropped a seed he said.. at first he was sure it was a pumpkin, but nixed that within a couple weeks. He decided to wait and see what it was~ "probably, I'm waiting on a weed." During the spring Tim made some big changes in the patio area. I was planting sunflowers. They are a symbol to me, of giving back by feeding the birds and the squirrels.

The plant by the door continued to grow and suddenly I knew.. it was a hollyhock! "Amazing!", I thought , the neighbor had yellow ones, and surely that was it! As you can see, it wasn't yellow. The pictures came out a little brighter, but they are indeed burgundy. I have gone around the neighborhood and haven't seen any hollyhocks except for the yellow ones. I know now that all is answered. I made the right decisions and my path is the right one for my daughters and I. He answered and I knew He was listening that day.