Love is the flower, you've got to let grow. - John Lennon

I don't think I recollect a time when my mom wasn't surrounded by flowers. She loved them. There was a stint in the 80's where she wouldn't leave the house without a flower in her hair. Daisies were her favorite, and yellow roses. We were stuck in the hospital for her last birthday and people seemed perplexed about what to get her. It was becoming apparent that we may never leave the hospital, so buying her knickknacks didn't make much since. Her friends and family opted for the one item that reminded them of her, flowers.
Now it is a little known fact that after a chemo treatment your white blood cell count almost zero's out to nothing and that is called Neutropenia. In common terms, your body has no way of fighting anything that you are exposed to, so hospitals don't allow flowers in the room when you are neutropenic. I am not exaggerating when I say she had at least 25  bouquets of flowers delivered to her in the hospital. The entire nurses station on the oncology floor was covered in her flowers and the large family waiting room was surrounded by peoples love for my mom.
I think about that time often because we spent so many hours walking those halls, sitting in that waiting room, and sharing that space. I didn't realize until then how unique and blessed we were to have the family we did. Naively I assumed people had families like ours, very present and overly loving. Sadly, I learned that was not the case. It is safe to say that about 80% of the rooms were filled with people going through the scariest time in there life, alone. No one was sitting by their bed side. The nurses weren't turning people away to allow the patient time to rest. I took a lot away from this experience and one of the most important things that I feel the need to share with everyone I love, is don't let your family pass away alone or unloved. I am sure that many of the patients, were great parents, spouses, sisters, and brothers at one point. What has happened in our society that has led us to a place where caring for our elders is not a top priority? What is more important than spending those last moments with the family that raised you and nurtured you as a child?
After going through this process twice, I now know the true beauty and uniqueness of my family. It also showed us all what an amazing impact my parents left on this world. We watch people work so hard to earn wealth and focus their time on self fulfilling activities. My parents didn't do either of those things. They never worked hard for the purpose of achieving gross wealth, or spent much time on selfish activities. Look at the stamp they were able to leave on the world. It is astounding to me.
It was pretty popular a few years ago to wear a bracelet that said "What would Jesus do?". I don't know that a day goes by where I don't ask myself, what would my parents do? My goal is to live a life as close to what they lived, to be close to God, family, and friends. They lived to serve and in the end, they were not alone. They had the world holding their hands and leading them into heaven. A pretty great way to go, if I don't say so myself.