7.25.15 Side by side

Gathered everlastings, that retain their magnificent form and color.  Destined to be sachet ingredients, to be combined with aromatic herbs, to brighten and fill with scent the dark cold winter days.

When my first born was 4, we bought a house in the middle of Montague, a three family, complete with an old barn, a tunnel between house and barn, and a remarkable woman who became a tenant.

She was bed-bound, with progressed cancer, and my young one and I would go bring her her dinner in the evenings, and sit to say hello. I think she was my age now, for the most part alone in the world, save two busy siblings, and would spend her days quietly in her living room, abed, watching the world live and breathe out her wide  front windows.

Eventually, my child and I would go out and gather her flowers, dry them, and then he would sit and make sachets with her. We'd go to tag sales, and collect small bowls and containers for the two of them to carefully place their fragrant creations in, and give as gifts. His friends at birthday parties looked at him twice, when his enthusiastic gift was this fragrant bundle, but he made many converts.

At night, I'd go collect him, and find him sitting by her side, as they watched the summer sunset, talking over their days.