True Love is Forever

Do you remember the first time you fell in love? I remember when I did. I was five years old and carrying an Easter basket. Our parents took their trio of daughters to Descanso Gardens in La Canada- Flintridge. http://www.descansogardens.org/site/
It was love at first sight of clivia clumps blooming underneath camellias just the right height for a little girl to think they were blooming trees. Birds sang as the danced together in dappled shade of big oak trees. True love does last forever. To this day I breathe in lilac and remember how intoxicating the exhilaration of first love feels.
I was too young to understand the impact of that brief brush with love. But, as is true in all true love, even though the dalliance was short, my life was forever impacted.
Love is patient. Twenty-nine years after I first fell in love, I was able to do something about my feelings. I said “I do” to my garden here.
In the years that have passed, with every plant born, tended- and yes, with those that have been laid to rest, the garden has taught me that love grows in ways I could not imagine in my youth.
Are my memories all accurate? Probably not. But that is not important. What is important that once touched by love, we are forever changed. And better off for it.