I have a tradition that I do around Memorial Day each year. It began in 2016. Memorial weekend was a total gift that year. I’d just lost Brent that January, and after a long, cold, grief filled winter, the warm sunshine and blue skies that graced the last bit of May were medicine for my heart.

So were the flowers I bought in profusion that weekend. Cherry blooms, daffodil buds, purple pansies spilling out of their baskets— I turned the front porch and back patio into an enchanted garden, and I spent Memorial Day sitting on my porch in the sunshine, writing, drawing and enjoying time with my husband and our fur kids.

I was going through a deep process of transformation at the time…