This week Aunt Jeanette writes:

I love mornings! It may partly be a leftover habit from my teaching days, but I have always been an early riser. If I had slept late, I would have missed these gorgeous blooms on my moonflower plant since these particular flowers wither during the daytime. Melissa has written about my moonflower plants and the hummingbird moths that visit them. My story today, however, is about persistence and resilience.

You see, after our severe hail and windstorm on Aug. 1, this plant was nothing but a stick – what was left looked like a short, stubby pencil. It was growing in quite an odd place to begin with. Apparently a seed had blown under our deck and the plant grew in a crack between the deck and concrete driveway. I couldn’t bear to pull it, so I let it grow there. It was just getting ready to bloom when the hail pounded it back to almost nothing.

As the days and weeks passed, I saw this plant coming back to life! I started kind of babying it along. When I watered the plants on my deck, I would finish by giving this one a little drink. It kept growing and finally one day I saw flower buds! I regret not taking before and after pictures, but I never guessed there was any life left there.

Even though our crops did not come back to life like my moonflower, the farmers in our area have had a hard lesson in persistence and resilience this summer and fall. It was a tough summer – one that will be the subject of stories for grandchildren – and they won’t be “the good old days” stories. However, I know the farmers will bounce back and overcome this adversity – just like my moonflower plant.

Until we walk again …