“I questioned my shortcomings as the days went on. Why didn’t I just water it? Why am I just watching it die? And I would just watch. It felt like a monumental effort to put some water in a container, open the door, pour it onto the plant, and put the container away…”

“I really looked at myself and plucked those thorns out one by one. It was grueling. I kept plucking them - painfully - until I finally realized there was a rose there all along…”

“I like to watch the mockingbirds perch on the corner of my house and sing. They sing all the time, especially in the spring…”

"As I studied the now-wilted flower, I realized I could see myself in it. What was once open and beautiful had become closed and withdrawn."

“…I also now know that loss is inevitable.  How we cope is up to us.”

“ I thought of times when I had quite literally been transformed after the most horrible things I experienced…”

“…Sometimes we have to do a bit of weeding in ourselves to make room for new growth and new blooms…”

“As winter drew to a close, I heard whispers of a superbloom happening…”

“As a child, he visited tobacco fields in his hometown in Canada and learned that the farmers quit watering the tobacco rather early in the season. ‘Why?’ He asked…”