The Bloom

There are many things in life that are important to me, but I have come to realize that the most import are things that are handed down from the past. I have several things in my house that are very special to me that were handed down from family members. But, it seems that the most important thing is a bush in my flower bed. It is from my great-grandmother Estelle Tate.

Here she is with my great-grandfather.

She was a fiery woman. As far back as I can remember she always had white hair and wore the same necklace. She lived in the the deep south and every time she spoke you could just pull up a chair and listen. She didn't own a dryer or a microwave or a cordless phone. She would always notice when you put on weight or got a new hair style because she would tell you about it. She would just lay it out there no matter what. One summer I went to spend a week with her. I never thought I would ever go to bed before the sunset, but every night we would. Then like clock work you would be up "with the chickens." There was never a minute wasted. The only thing that you could watch was the Atlanta Braves. Wow, I learned so much that week. When she passed away a couple of years ago, that was hard. There were so many cherished memories that I will never forget. As my family sat at her home on the night of the visitation, I noticed a certificate on the wall. It had her name on it and in parenthesises it said her pet name "Tillie". I knew right then that if I was fortunate enough to have a girl, her named would be Tillie. So as you know, we did. I feel that this is my way of keeping her memory alive.

Ok back to the bush......

I can remember as a little girl see, it seemed, like there were hundreds of these bushes with beautiful blooms all over her back yard. So, I wanted a little piece of her yard in mine. It has taken several years for the bush to take off and grow. I was so worried that it wasn't going to make it, then it started. The other day we noticed that there was a small bloom on the bush.

This bush is planted right outside Tillie Ann's window. Tillie Ann will never meet the other Tillie until she gets to Heaven, but for now I have a little piece of Granny Tate with Tillie Ann.