Elizabeth Mini
"April Showers Bring May Flowers
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
Memories of growing up in Honduras surrounded by flowers in all seasons came to mind as I began working on my umbrella.
My father, an American, was working in Honduras for the Standard Fruit Co. My mother, of English decent, was born in Utila, an island that is part of the Bay Island chain. In the early morning hours of May Day, my sister and I would gather up the flowers that surrounded us and place them at our neighbors’ doorsteps. There was also the “Robbing of the Tree” where the top of any tree was chopped off and planted in the middle of our yard. My mother decorated the tree with bags of goodies and we would play ring games, old English rhymes. At some point, the music stopped and we would hear, “Rob the tree.” This meant that we all tried to grab as many goodie bags as we could.
I remember my father saying to my sister and me, “April showers bring May flowers.” I didn’t understand this phrase until I came to live in the United States. After all, it was just normal to have flowers all year round in the tropics. One day, the weatherman said it and it dawned on me that when you live in an area like the Midwest where the seasons change, early spring rain is needed to help wonderful flowers sprout. Through my journey of flower memories, I am glad that my parents made mine a very colorful one.