Susiej

The etiquette rule book says gifts for women should not come with a cord and should not require any effort on her part.  But I showed up every Mother’s Day weekend at the garden center, walking through rows of vibrant colors and possibilities, picking out petunias and geraniums and trailing ivy, imagining the basket we’d build together in her backyard. I was not going to give my mom a gift that could be wrapped in tissue paper, dropped on the table, and left for days. I gave her something that required us both to get our hands deep in potting soil, smelling the earth, smelling the flowers, getting dirt under…