Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I'm grateful to my younger son for sending me a surprise this morning. A man arrived with a beautiful teak bench, and when he had placed it in our back yard, he took the tape off a plaque that said it was in memory of our daughter who died last June. When I called my son, he said he knew I was sad because we could not have the memorial service yet, and I had not done anything yet except a big check to the arts program she worked for and loved. I am so touched. I situated the bench so that it faces a small bridge, a filled in pond, and the statue of Tara, the goddess of compassion. It's a peaceful spot, with trees and camillia bushes all around, and bells in the trees. I will sit there and pray for her and think of her vibrancy and courage and love. Then we went to a garden an hour away, with our younger daughter and her two boys, and reveled in the acres of daffodils, every variety you could imagine. Our four year old grandson's favorite flower is yellow, so he was as overjoyed as I. The magnolia trees were blossoming, the tulips were coming up, deep purple hyacinths were everywhere, and blue eyed flowers and purple pansies. The fields of daffodils were almost too much beauty to bear. And I thought of my daughter, and her amazing, beautiful self, still living in her daughter.