Nature Grief Reflection

Nature was the first place I could breathe again after Mike died in 2012. Desert Botanical Garden is located in Phoenix, AZ, about 40 minutes from where I live. The desert has a unique landscape with hard, dry ground, but the plant life that thrives here has such extraordinary beauty. In many ways, it’s reflective of my grief journey. Thorny and painful, thirsting for comfort. The plant life adapts to this arid environment. When you think there is nothing more, the cacti bloom and display their dazzling flowers in whites, yellows, pinks, and purples. There are wildflowers and sunflowers that bloom and fade away. I feel connected to all life cycles as I watch them change from buds to wilted flowers, with the seeds for new life falling to the ground. It reminds me that my grief will be ever-changing.

This photo is one of the many garden paths sprinkled with sunshine and shade. I feel calm here as I’m enveloped by the trees and serenaded by the birds. The writing at the top and bottom are plaques in the garden I purchased in remembrance of my husband and my mom and dad.

I was reading a book the other day with this quote that I loved. We’re marvelous reflections of our lives; nowhere is that more apparent than in nature. Beauty is not in perfection, but in all the messy parts of life too. These photos of flowers’ growth and decay stages help me know that when I feel the most wilted and worn down by grief, I’ll find beauty again.