Neighbors

My friend Pam is dying. She was told by her doctor last week that she has between two weeks and two months left.

Pam was diagnosed with a tumor at the base of her skull in June of 2009. At that time the tumor was thought to be benign and completely removable. But the biopsy after Pam's surgery revealed something else: a malignant, incurable cancer.

So the past two years have been a difficult challenge for Pam, to put it mildly. But she figured she had another year or two left, maybe more if she were lucky.

In late May Pam and her husband drove to the New Hampshire/ Vermont border to attend a large family gathering which was actually a memorial service for Pam's mother, who died last fall. Pam carried her mother's ashes with her, in a beautiful urn which Pam had kept on her mantel until now.

And here's where the title of this post comes into play...

While Pam and her husband were in New Hampshire, their neighbors got to work. Theirs is a lovely, small, historical neighborhood of colonial homes (and even a large former inn which has a dance hall on its third floor.)

The neighbors built for Pam a beautiful flower garden. And I'm not talking about a small flower patch. I'm talking about a large garden, perhaps 20'x 20', with pathways and birdbaths and various perennials and annuals. The flowers and plants are all nicely mulched with bark chips, and the pathways are lined with wood chips. A split rail fence encloses the garden.

One neighbor, Trish, came up with the idea of building this garden for Pam. She went door to door and enlisted the help of the other ten or twelve families in the neighborhood. It wasn't difficult for Trish to enlist help, because everyone thinks the world of Pam. A kinder, gentler, more respected and loved lady simply cannot be found.

So Pam and her husband returned home from their long weekend to find a beautifully designed flower garden at the end of their driveway.

When Pam's husband went to the gardening shop to pay for the split rail fencing, the owner refused to accept any payment. "I didn't do this because I wanted any money," he said.

But now Pam has been told she hasn't much time left. So she sits for a time each day in her garden, under the shade of a large tree, appreciating the moment and her neighbors and their kindness.