Isn't this a beautiful Camellia?  I took this picture when my sister and I were on our "sister vacation" last month.  On our
way home we stopped in Solvang for a couple of hours.  I took this picture and wanted to share it. It's one of the flowering bushes my Mom had under her kitchen window.  It reminded me of her so much.

She was also a beautiful woman.  She was a daughter, a sister to 7 siblings, a wife, a mother of 3, a grandmother to 6 and a great grandmother to 6, then a widow. And then a great great grandmother of 4.  She passed away when my first grandchild was about 10 days old.  I wanted nothing more than to have my Mom meet my first grandchild.  Sometimes you don't get what you want.  I still miss her so much.  One time she said to me "your Mom" is always your best friend".  That statement was the truest thing anyone could ever say to me.  I realized when she said it, that it was true.  One day not to long ago I told my sister what Mom had said to me and she didn't agree with it. She didn't think your Mom could be your best friend.  So aren't I the lucky one to have a Mom and a best friend and that she was the same person.  Maybe it was because I was the oldest girl or that I was the middle child.  I'll never know and I'll never have another best friend like her but I've have many that are close.

That reminds me of something else.  One day when I was visiting I went out on the back porch for some reason and I noticed that the downspout from the rain gutter was smoking.  The spout was right next to the Camellia bush.  It wasn't attached but leaning against the house.  So I called Mom and we took it out onto the driveway and banged it on the ground.  Guess what it was full of?  My Dad's smoldering cigarette butts.  It wasn't on fire but what a mess!  Oh the memories of our lives!

Have a great evening!