Member-only story
When Flowers are Messages
During the decade that I have been arranging funerals for grieving families, there have been some very clear messages from “beyond the veil” that I have come to recognize when they appear. Some messages are much stronger than others. Some have a subtle nature that still astounds me when I reflect on how they came about. I am not a believer in “coincidence”. I have come to believe very strongly that there is most often a directed power toward the convergence of events. Perhaps this comes from the very profound effect that the book I read in my Jr. High School days has always remained top of mind. I still often recommend “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” by Thornton Wilder. It is still a terrific read if you are questioning how events happen during our days.
I spent 25 years as a retail florist in Southern California before moving to Iowa and working for a funeral home. These skills carried over into my first job in death care as I managed a flower shop for the funeral home complex where I have been employed for the past 12 years. One weekend morning, in the fall, I had started for work when I realized what a beautiful fall morning it was, and not far away there was a beautiful fence row near a one-lane bridge that always had a beautiful big vine of the orange Bittersweet, which many are so fond of in the fall in the midwest. The vine has long-lasting orange berries in big clusters, which work so well in…
