Pulling Up Roots

We have been in our current house for 16 years, but are getting ready to move (quite literally) into a new chapter in our lives.  Moving is always hard. Hubby and I moved 5 times in 2 years when we were first married and I haven't missed it!  However, this move will take us closer to Ducky and Grandma, and that is a very good thing.

The last few weeks have found me pouring through all of our accumulated things to see what to take, and what to move on.  Today as I mowed the yard, I was brought to a whole new realization of things to take - our plants. While that may seem a bit silly to some, to the "keepers" it is not.  Hubby and I are keepers.  We have often joked that we cannot get rid of anything in the house because it has some family tie to it - this is not too far from the truth in many cases.  It is also true of our yard.  With each dissolution of a grandparents' estate, we took some of the plants with us.

During my contemplative mowing, I counted off numerous plants that I "need" to make sure we take with us.
My roses, that Hubby bought me, which remind me so much of my Papa Mauzey and his prized roses.

Papa and Granny Mauzey in their backyard

The surprise lilies, aka "naked ladies" that Papa Mauzey gave us before he died.  Those flowers always make me smile because I remember when my Granny Mauzey first pointed them out and said, "There's a naked lady!" and just laughed and laughed :)

The irises: the short purple ones which bloom twice a year that Grandma Patrick thought so highly of, the multicolored ones my Grandmas Murray collected, the light purple ones we brought from Grandpa Bevitt's house.

Mookie and Bubby in the flower bed

The lemon lilies that had been my great-grandma's.  The forsythia that we grew from a start at our first home in Illinois. But the list doesn't end there...

Bubby and the tulips

There are ones I wish I could take, the violets that grow randomly throughout the yard kind of like weeds, but always make the yard look magical in the spring.  The dumb Star of Bethlehem that if they would just stay out of my nice flower beds and grow where I want them to, I would be glad to rejoice in their presence and the meaning of their name instead of cursing them ;) The flowering almond bush that presents little pink puffball flowers for a week in the spring.  Just one week, no more, but it is so pretty.

our fairy garden

My mental list encompasses the whole yard give or take.  In the end, it's just more "stuff".  But every item brings back a memory of one that is no longer here, and that isn't all bad.  So, my whittling down of the list of items to take continues...it may just not be very short...