My eyes would shoot directly towards the bright red flowers, they always did whenever we went to visit grandpa and grandma. Those red flowers covered my mama’s grave.

As a little girl, the sight of those red flowers always sent a chill into my body!, I would sweat, I would panic, I wanted to run, I wanted to hide, my heart almost jumped out of my chest!…. it was a rush through my entire body!;they terrified me but yet it was calming to be there for it had been a while.

The little path to the nearest grocery store was by those red flowers that covered the big mound;mama’s grave,……I had to take that path. Sometimes, I would catch myself trying to grasp for breathe/air for it felt like some one was watching me. Her eyes;mama’s eyes I  almost would feel. “No, no ,no” I would tell myself…no one is watching, it’s just a grave…..mama’s grave under those red flowers.

However, the older I got, the more i understood that under those red flowers, my mama had been lied to rest. No, there were no eyes watching me, no there was no reason to be scared or afraid for under those red flowers was a spot for mama’s rest;her body, her shell.

Those red flowers were a symbol of a life once lived; God’s creation now in His presence, a daughter, a wife, a mother, a neighbor and a friend and that is okay by me.

p.s.My true story!