Flour Sacks, Morning Glories and Self Esteem

  Yesterday, I found the ditch daisies in the marsh and they brought a lot of memories from my childhood and particularly of my granddad.  His gardening lessons were peppered with lots of moral lessons which I carry with me to this day.  While Pop was actually a better gardener (farmer), Granddad had more time to spend with an inquisitive youngster.  My experience gardening with Pop dealt more with learning weeds from "good" plants, which type of fertilizer to use and when to plant the seeds by the phase of the moon.  All were important lessons and all are things I use with my own gardening.  Combined, the two men taught me lots of useful skills,  

  This morning, however, the lesson that was brought to mind was from neither of these fine gentlemen.  A morning glory bloom made me think of Mom.  She was a kind, gentle woman who always wanted everyone to be happy.  She believed that inner beauty far outweighed appearances.  I recall one time being ridiculed at school for wearing a dress made from flour sacks.  Back in the day, flour sacks were gorgeous with lovely designs on them.  The fabric was cotton and was amazingly soft.  Mom would sew my dresses from the fabric after I picked my favorite sack.  While I thought the dresses were beautiful and I was so proud to wear something Mom had sewn, other kids saw my clothing as a thing to be despised.  The clothing did not compare to their fine, store-bought dresses.  Of course, I came home in tears but Mom, in her loving way, proved that the outward appearance was not the person.

  The next morning, to give me an idea of her lesson, she took me out to the fence line where brambles had taken over to create a gnarled mess.  She asked what I saw.  In the midst of the brambles, a lone morning glory was blooming.  I noticed the beautiful blue color and how the sun's rays lit up the center like a light.  My answer was obvious.  I saw the lovely flower and not the briers.  When I answered her question, she smiled.  Yes!  The lovely bloom is what mattered.  Not the tangled mess of vines.  She said she wanted me to think of that morning glory when the others made fun of my dress.  Afterward, she took me inside to show me the newest flour sack  Lo and behold! That sack had lovely blue morning glories on it!  I went off to school and tried to make the best of it. When I got home, my mother gave me a package.  She had sewn a new dress for me....with blue morning glories!  The next morning,  I proudly wore my new flour sack dress and lifted my face high to let my smile shine.  Maybe the other kids snickered at my garb but I could not hear them at all.  My thoughts were on being a beautiful flower.

  This morning in the midst of a jumbled mess of vines and weeds, the sun caught a morning glory's color and made it shine brightly.  I thought of Mom and her lessons of self esteem...and I smiled.  I was happy.  I also wish they still made those lovely printed cotton flour sacks so I could sew something!  Maybe ones with blue morning glories would be nice.