In the Garden

The morning in 2007 I learned my father had died, I turned on the radio and heard the song “In The Garden” being song in a deep baritone on a religious station I hadn’t even realized the radio was set on. The song was very moving, and perfectly matched my feelings at that moment, as it is about walking with Jesus in a garden, and it reminded me of my Dad, for many reasons.

Two years later, my sister and I visited the cemetery, where my parents gravestones had been newly installed, a very emotional visit. Then, we went to see my mother in the nursing home, where she suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. I tried to make conversation about flowers and the rainy summer and how the garden outside the home seemed to be doing well. She responded to my emotions, if not my conversation, holding my hand and stroking it with her thumb, comforting me as tears escaped my eyes. When my sister and I left my mother, we passed a room where they were holding a church service. I heard a beautiful hymn being sung, and, as I paid attention, I realized they were singing “In The Garden.” The song I had asked to be sung at my Dad's funeral, after hearing it the morning I was told he had died.

This may not seem like much to you, but, for me, I was absolutely floored. It makes me wonder if, as my father told me, which at the time I ascribed to his brain injury, it isn’t true, “Amy, its all One. It’s all One thing.”