First off, the title Tending Roses brings me to a tender spot in my heart. Tending rose gardens is part of my family history that I treasure, though to look at my current rose bushes, one might wonder about that! My grandfather on my dad's side died tending to his rose garden before I knew him. My grandparents on my mom's side had beautiful roses, lots of them, and I believe they were one of my grandma's favorite flowers. My parents planted roses everywhere they lived, even at a little duplex they lived in for a while when they were first married. And Reid and I decided to carry on the tradition, planting roses at our house in Texas, and here at our house in Dundee. In fact, we have plans to create a nice rose garden in our backyard sometime in the next year or so and give ourselves a do-over since the roses in our front yard are unfortunately sickly and uncared for....( which is actually part of the theme of the book. But I'll get to that later.) My mom loved her roses so much. Always, when they were in bloom, there were vases full of roses on our dining room table and in various places throughout my childhood home. The year she moved up to Dundee, the year she died, my dad planted a rose garden for her. Each child and each grandchild picked a favorite rose of their choosing to plant in Nana's rose garden. I remember the trip to the nursery fondly. I have a picture of her surrounded by all of us, she with her oxygen tubes and sitting in a chair, our kids and my brother's kids small and so cute. :) So to read a novel with tending roses as a central theme, a metaphor for what's important in life, held a special relevance for me.
The grandmother in the book reminded me fondly of my grandma. Sometimes a bit harsh with her words and expectations, yet with a soft spot for little children, a hearty laugh and often times a wise and generous spirit underneath all her little irritations and rules. It was fun to grin and relate to the grand-kids in this story, some of the expectations and rules the exact same as my granny held for me.
The granddaughter in this story, Kate, and her husband Ben are up and comers in their fields, with all the toys, nice cars and preparations to purchase a nice house in the near future. They have a 4 month old who was born with heart complications and Kate is on leave for several months. Grandma Rose has had a mild stroke which is causing some memory lapses and things, and Kate and Ben offer to spend a few weeks with her while the family decides what is to be done about Grandma's care. As they remove themselves from the rat race of their lives, they begin to change their perspective on what's important in life, and lest I spoil the book, I won't go into the details any further. But once again, I could relate.
In this strange time of COVID-19 quarantine, many of us have had our busy lives come to a complete halt. Our jobs are either on hold, lost or being done from home. Our kids are doing school at home online. Our college kids have come home early. Our kids' extra curricular activities have come to a screeching halt and in many cases, so have their jobs. Now I realize that this is no light matter for so many, and there is extreme hardship due to the stay at home orders for many. I also realize that our kids and so many others have lost so much because of this - seniors don't get to finish out their year and have all the graduation fun, trips have been cancelled, weddings and gatherings of many kinds are not a possibility or are drastically different from what people have dreamed and planned for, and on and on. We in our family are not immune to the effects of it either, and have our own losses and disappointments to rise above. So, though I am well aware of all the down side of things, I am also blessed by the good that has come from this time. I am only speaking for my own experience in this, so please take no offense.
There is such a correlation for me between what happens for Kate and Ben, and for the odd opportunity we have been given as a family because of COVID-19. It has slowed our lives down so much! We have spent so much more time together - doing house projects together, baking and cooking together, eating dinner together nearly every night, watching lots of movies together, playing games, doing puzzles, reading books, taking a day trip to my aunt's beach house and so much more. We have been given time to pause, to enjoy a more relaxed pace, to open our eyes and hearts to those around us, and to the beautiful world around us. I am so thankful this happened in the Spring, and not the Fall/ Winter holiday season or in the dead of Winter! How lovely to be able to garden, enjoy blossoms on trees and flowers blooming, grasses turning green and the sunshine warming us - well at least more than in winter! :) Anyway... I am treasuring this time to stop and "tend the roses" ...slow down and bring life back to the heart of what matters most - faith, family and home. Friends too - but that's not so easy right now.) Life will get back to its bustling busy-ness at some point, and to be honest, I look forward to returning to at least most of the activity. But I will hold on to this precious time and the memories we have made. And maybe, just maybe, I'll take better care of my roses from now on as a reminder to take time and care for the beautiful things of life.
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