Chariton Valley News Press
It never ceases to amaze me the level some people will stoop
to for their own benefit. I see it in the world around me and wonder how and
why. An incident recently made me shake my head in wonder as some person’s lack
of conscience touched our family.
Seven years ago on the anniversary of Jeana’s death, the
kids and I planted some bright orange peace lilies next to her headstone. They
almost always bloom out the first of June near her anniversary and are gorgeous
– until this year.
I always go to the cemetery near her birthday to clean up
faded silk flowers, broken trinkets, and replace flowers in the vases. This
year I noticed a hole next to the headstone. I didn’t think too much about it
until later in the day and I realized that is where the peace lilies should be
poking through the ground. I went back the next week – surely I was wrong? But I wasn’t.
Someone had gone to the cemetery, dug the bulbs for the
peace lilies out of the ground and taken them. I wonder – do you steal flowers
from a cemetery in the middle of the night or are people brave enough to do
something like that in the middle of the day as the sunshine from above beats
on their shoulders?
Our family talked about the situation and what kind of
person would do something like that. A quick “message” to my “friend” on Facebook
brought responses that made my jaw drop. Apparently, stealing from a cemetery
is not really that uncommon. As friends and neighbors told me of stolen flower
bushes, shepherd hooks with hanging baskets, and items of meaning left at the
headstones of loved ones, I was dumbstruck. Seriously, people drive through and
think they truly “need” these things?
As the post to my friend mentioned, I hope as Jeana watched
you dig up those flowers, she turned to the Big Man on her left and they
concocted a plot of revenge that rivaled some of the pain she would inflict on
Joni and Jake when they really ticked her off. Yes, I know, that isn’t a
Christian attitude but it was as nice as I could come up with under the
circumstances.
Images of Jeana’s revenge started flashing through our minds.
By far the most infamous was the day a $2.00 can of cooking spray reeked havoc
in the household. Once again, the story starts with Jeana accusing Joni of
being too bossy. As Joni bolted out the door to drag me into the middle of
their feud, Jeana’s mind gears quickly went into high gear and revenge was
imminent.
Locked doors, kitchen linoleum that was a little slick to
begin with, and a can of Pam was all she needed to get even. As Joni busted
through the only unlocked door in the house to inform Jeana that the mission
had been accomplished – she had made me stop mowing to tattle – reality struck as
Joni went gliding across the kitchen floor. The ensuing screams brought Jake
barreling into to watch the action and he quickly became a scene in Jeana’s
revenge plot as well.
The three of them combined made enough noise to wake the
dead. My mower came to a screeching halt and I quickly made my way into the
house to take care of the situation. I don’t think I was supposed to be a
victim but that didn’t keep the three monkeys from enjoying the show. They were
all three sitting on the carpet just far enough away from the linoleum to not
get hurt when I came crashing down. They looked like the “hear no evil, see no evil,
say no evil” monkeys – innocence was not their most convincing facial
expression.
Needless to say, my screams could be heard by all the
neighbors, which brought Larry in the house rather quickly. They still hadn’t
unlocked any other doors. Since the seat of my shorts had soaked up the biggest
portion of the oil glistening on the kitchen floor, Larry’s ending was not as
earth trembling as mine. I must admit though, the show he put on trying to keep
from the crash and burn had moves I had never seen before.
In the end, Jeana spent a good part of her evening scrubbing
the floor. It seems cooking spray sticks pretty well to linoleum and it took
some elbow grease and Dawn dish soap to get it all up. It didn’t seem to phase
her much though. She sang the whole time she was scrubbing.
As we recalled this incident and others, we all had to
chuckle just a little. If she can cause such a stir with a can of Pam, what on
earth is she capable of these days?
I read a quote somewhere that read, “as she has planted, so does she harvest; such is the field
of karma”. I hope our thief’s garden will feel the sting of karma with disease
and pests. Again, I realize that isn’t a Christian attitude to have but wouldn’t
it be great if karma was actually our loved ones way of defending those of us
left behind from the evil here on earth. If that’s the case, I pity the fool
who stole those flowers.
No comments:
Post a Comment