There are some things that make me happy just by their very existence. I want to introduce you three of them. Meet Michael, Betty and Queen Mary:
My mom bought the Michael and Betty planters many years ago and named them after her sister and brother-in-law, my Aunt Betty and Uncle Michael. First of all, the real Michael and Betty always seemed exotic and interesting to me. Michael was an actor who started his own acting studio in New York City and knew lots of people in acting circles there. Betty taught voice lessons and was well-known in the same circles. This was so far out of my realm that I was both fascinated and just a little intimated by them on the rare occasions that we visited. My sister Sarah and I went out for a visit when I was in college and I still remember us all being out at a restaurant, dining with an actress from a soap opera that we watched. She gave us the inside scoop on a story line involving her character. Pretty heady stuff. When Betty died a few years ago, we went to her “Celebration of Life” gathering and were impressed when the actor Michael Douglas showed up to share his own fond memories of her. Uncle Michael died earlier this year, so they are both gone now.
When Mom stopped using the planters some years ago, I eagerly swept them up and adopted them as my own. It’s a great pleasure each year filling them with plants and watching their “hair” grow. This year, they have fuchsia hair.
The third planter was one my mom acquired later in her esteemed gardening career and I wasn’t as familiar with it but was glad to add it to the “family.” I think Mom called her “Victoria,” but I decided to call her “Queen Mary,” after my mom (the Mary part, not the queen part). She has beautiful white hair this year, just like Mom.
Aren’t they exquisite?
I’ll probably delete this in the morning, after contemplating how I might feel about having a planter named after me.
Lynniebeemuseoday 