50+ Lifestyles

Take Time to Smell the Roses

By David W. Deuth, CFSP
President, Weerts Funeral Home

It seemed for some time that the mild end to the winter season would yield an early spring. Turns out that it mostly yielded, well…a mild end to the winter season. Although the snow was minimal and thus gone from the ground early this year, the cold weather was pesky and persistent. Even so, some flowers and plants began to sprout early, their growth and bloom curtailed by a lack of sunlight and subsequent lack of warmth in the soil.

Now that the weather has finally decided to turn the corner into spring, things have bloomed en masse – and I’ve been taken aback by the daffodils in
particular. Despite the lingering colder weather this year, including sub-freezing overnight temperatures well into April, the familiar bright yellow flowers not only survived the chilly start to the season but became as vibrant as we would have expected them to be under more typical circumstances.
The wise among us remind us that’s important to “take time to smell the roses.” I’m not so good at that, and am the first to admit it. But I have taken a couple moments to ponder some interesting observations of these otherwise silent masterpieces of nature more than once in recent weeks.

I have stood in wonder and amazement knowing that these tender and fragile sprouts of daffodil buds withstood hard freezes several nights in a row. Rather than wilting and shutting down and giving up the fight, if you will, these buds persisted against circumstances that made it difficult for them to not only survive but also to grow. If you’ve been to the funeral home recently, you may have seen them regaled in all their springtime glory along the west fence line of the property. They have been absolutely stunning this year!
I can’t help but liken the tender flower bud of spring to the tender heart of one recently bereaved – in need of protection and nurturing and tending and sunlight. There are times when it would seem that it takes everything within to simply survive the persistent and pesky cold and dreary weather of grief, if you will, that makes it difficult to not only survive but to grow.

My other observation has to do with the eventual opening of the flower. I say “eventual” because the opening of the flower doesn’t occur immediately when the bud appears. It’s a process. It’s gradual. And it’s by design. The rest of the plant has to be strong enough to support the flower when it opens. Roots. Stem. Leaves. Good and healthy surrounding soil . . .

And so it is that one in grief can’t go swiftly from the autumn of loss to the cold winter of profound grief to the springing forth of the tender bud of a healing heart to the eventual majestic beauty of the open flower. It’s a process. It’s gradual. And it’s by design. The rest of the body has to be strong enough to support the flower when it opens. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. With good and healthy surrounding soil like close friends and family members.

We can certainly learn a lot from the beautiful design of nature – if we take the time to stop and smell the roses.

Remember Well.

David W. Deuth, CFSP, is a funeral director and the owner of Weerts Funeral Home in Davenport and RiverBend Cremation and Quad Cities Pet Cremation in Bettendorf. He can be reached via email at Dave@WeertsFH.com or by phone at (563) 424.7055.