I Remember Mama

Whenever lily of the valley come into bloom I think of my mother.  These delicate and beautifully fragrant flowers were one of my mother's favorite.  They are easy to grow and spread so fast they can become a nuisance, however when we were growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we couldn't get them to grow at all.  They would get started and then die off.  It was always a precious and rare commodity to get lily of the valley to give to mother for Mother's Day.

This year, the lily of the valley in my yard bloomed late, but very profusely.  I have them growing in various corners of our 2 acre yard.  So much so that my husband has warned that they are crowding out other plants.  For me, I can never have enough.

So in honor and remembrance of my dear mother, I have a big bouquet of lily of the valley at my kitchen counter.  The perfume of those flowers are heady indeed and each time a whiff of that fragrance meets my nose, I remember mama.