To my many cousins who remember as I do the lilacs along the road going to “grandma’s house.” Lilacs seemed to be the “thing” that made all of us think of grandma. My mother and her sisters were almost reverent when smelling and looking at lilacs over the years………..their voices drifting off in memory.

Mom planted some in every yard she ever lived in and her love for them made me want some. I don’t remember when but a few years ago I planted a few in the back and I was prepared to wait a while for blooms. I had been told it took 7-years for lilacs to bloom and multiply.

You can imagine my excitement when one Spring I noticed a few little buds coming on the limbs that were purple!! At last, I could enjoy the icon of the Stricklett family.

When Rocky and I married he dug up a lilac from his farm and brought here to plant with the other ones. Of course it was a little one but after a few dry summers and us fussing over it……..it reached maturity. The small one on the right is the one and the Rockenbach kids can enjoy that one especially, knowing their dad planted it. It means all the world to me now that he is gone.

I love the smell of lilacs……..so sweet and old fashioned…….and as I’ve said before, I love the old fashioned flowers from days gone by.

Essentially Esther