I first met my husband’s grandparents, Gus and Rachel, in the late 90’s. Everyone loved Gus, he was funny and kind. Rachel had the sweetest smile and made the best strawberry jam you ever tasted. Their gardens were amazing. When Brad and I moved to Idaho Rachel gave me a paper sack with some hollyhock seeds from their flower garden. Not realizing what a treasure I had, those seeds got put on a high shelf in the laundry room for a very long time. Between unpacking, setting up our new home and getting our son ready for preschool, I completely forgot about them.
It was probably a couple years later when I ran across the bag again and decided to plant a few of the seeds. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about hollyhocks and when they didn’t grow much or flower I thought the seeds were too old and pulled up all the plants in the fall. Rachel told me I shouldn’t have and luckily I still had some seeds to re-plant. I didn’t know that they don’t flower the first year or that it takes until the second year for them to become the tall beauties they are. After they finally bloomed I could see why they were one of Gus’ favorites.
Now that Gus and Rachel are both gone, we wait anxiously for the hollyhocks to appear every summer. The cheerful flowers bring back fond memories and make us feel that part of Gus and Rachel are here with us. Every fall I collect the seeds from the spent flowers, there are literally thousands of them. Last year I sent seeds to some of our relatives and friends so that we all can have a heartwarming reminder of two special people. I hope to always have seeds to share every fall.
He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.~Acts 10:2
