It was only a small wedding party, a small reception at home, a few friends, a few drinks, some food delivered from a nice restaurant in town.
Anna, her neighbor had a lot of fabulous plants and flowers in pots around her house, always looking fresh and glorious. They had just moved into their place a couple of weeks before the wedding and it was still a bit bare and empty.
For the wedding Anna brought a dozen of her pots over, on loan. Anna thought it would be a nice welcoming gesture to the new neighbors and a gift. The plants made the place look lived in, joyful and festive.
The day after the wedding she felt very reluctant to bring the plants back. She filled an empty wine bottle with water, went from pot to pot and watered the plants. She had a little chat with the plants, asked them whether they had enjoyed the wedding party. She felt very happy and grateful that morning.
So she made a deal with Anna. Every Saturday morning she went to the local market, bought a new plant and in the afternoon she took one plant back to Anna. Over the next weeks she replaced all the plants and pots one by one. But, she kept her habit of buying a plant on the market every Saturday morning.
They sat on the little terrace out the back.
This has become such an oasis out here, Look at all the colours and the greenery, Anna praised.
See, it has been almost ten years since you brought your pots over for our wedding day. The place was so empty then.
I remember that late summer afternoon very clearly.
Before Brian and I met, we both went through a lot of drama and trauma. We were not young anymore and our previous relationships had been a bit of a disaster. In a way, we were a very reluctant couple. On the morning after the wedding I watered your plants and thought, what if I can turn this darkness of the previous years into fertile compost. We could grow on it and have a fertile and happy life.
Brian came out of the kitchen door, holding a tray with tea, cups, milk, sugar and cake on it. He put the tray on the little garden table and sat down.
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