Saving Jonquils

An inspiring and heartwarming short-short read (five minutes) that will take you back to your childhood or to the childhood you may wish you'd had, and will help you remember that beauty is eternal and that jonquils, like love and hope, will always find a way.

"I remember the hot-vinegar scent of boiled Easter eggs rising from Grandma’s dye spoon and old stew pot on the stove, of the wonder in my eyes as the brilliant pastels coated the brown orbs laid by fat Rhode Island Red hens.
And I remember the yellow jonquils in her yard, lingering in an early spring. Now, thirty years later, on my knees in front of her crumbling farmhouse, I dig. A hands-length down, I begin to find the fat bulbs. Hearty and secretive. They whisper, 'See, we’re still here. We’ve hung onto the family's dreams. We know our roots.' "

Sentimental, nostalgic and yet quietly grateful, an Oklahoma soccer mom drives her SUV to Alabama for one last visit to the family homeplace outside Birmingham to gather jonquil bulbs before developers raze the old farm to build a mall. She prays that the bulbs she leaves behind will find a way to survive.

A story honoring the passing of the rural South--and rural America in general. It speaks to the value of family heritage, the memories shared in heirloom flowers, and ultimately to the power of life to renew itself no matter what. A quick, short-short, inspiring read for all ages. Deborah Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of A Place To Call Home and the No. 1 Kindle bestselling author of The Crossroads Cafe. She has a garden full of her grandmother's heirloom jonquils.