I love flowers.
They are hard to come by in Uptown but when you see them, take your breath away. Like this petunia growing out of the cracks in an alley behind Friendly Towers.
There are also a lot of flowers in the private garden, like this purple blanket of color, thanks to our resident gnome, Ted.
He’s responsible for keeping the colors blooming inside the private garden area of the Friendly Towers. I love this blanket of purple crawling up the gate.
But today, there is a spread of flowers that nobody wants to see.
The flowers were at a shift memorial for a tragic death in our neighborhood. A mother threw her baby out the window of her high rise after her family was upset that the infant was bi-racial.
If flowers have dreams, I’m sure this isn’t where they wished to end up.
They most likely wanted to be a surprise for a girlfriend, or a bouquet of birthday wishes for a grandmother, or in the boutonniere of a jittery groom.
They definitely didn’t want to end up here.
I wept when I saw the make-shift memorial.
I think the flowers were weeping, too.
The memorial is on Eastwood, near Clarendon, behind the Uplift High School, just a few feet away from a row of blue dumpsters.
Uptown has its own unique species of flowers that keep the streets colorful.
Let’s hope they are not stomped out.
We stopped to see the memorial last night on our way home from outreach. The whole scene took my breath away as my heart broke for the mother who felt trapped by an antiquated system who could not see pure love. Prayers for all involved in this situation.