The Forever Poinsettia

Tom and Lilly were soulmates.  The love they held for each other more than spanned the age difference between them.  Theirs was definitely a September-December romance that lasted for over two decades.  Tom and Lilly lived from one side of the country to the other and spent as much of their time together as they possibly could.  It was always rare to see one without the other.  They settled in a small mid-western town and were blessed with a son.  They named him Todd.

Tom loved his family and he loved to work in the yard and tend to his flowers.  His roses were the most beautiful anyone had ever seen.  Lilly had no green thumb, like her husband, but she admired the beauty Tom created around their home.  

Every Christmas season, Tom and Lilly would go to the local big box store and purchase poinsettias to decorate the house with.  Tom always cared for the poinsettias during the holidays.  This was a Christmas ritual, year after year.

Then one year, shortly after the Thanksgiving season was over, Tom fell ill.  Lilly went to the store without him and returned with two $6 poinsettias.  Two weeks later and fourteen days before Christmas, Tom told Lilly "good night" and peacefully passed to the other side.  Lilly's heart was broken.  How was she going to make it without him?  

Three years later, those two poinsettias are still alive.  All Lilly has ever done for them is to give them water.  They are at least ten times the size they were when she first brought them home.  They each sit on plant stands that are two feet high and the leaves are so dense that they nearly touch the floor.  This past March, the poinsettias were loaded with red leaves.  Shortly after summer, all the red leaves fell off both plants.  Then, a few weeks ago, Lilly noticed some of the leaves were beginning to turn red, again.  Todd told his mother that Dad was sending her poinsettias for Christmas.

This is a true story, only the names have been changed to protect their identity.  I have pictures of the poinsettias and share them often.  I also look at them when I'm feeling down because they prove to me that love never dies, that we are not forgotten and that those we miss are just beyond our fingertips.  Tom not only takes care of the poinsettias, he visits Lilly in her dreams.  He tells her he will be right there, waiting for her, so they can be together forever.

Love, it's what the season is all about.