A Funeral and a Garden (1)

My father’s best friend in college died a few weeks ago and I made the 4-hour drive to attend his funeral – representing our family since my father is too frail to travel now. The two men were born within a few weeks of each other and spent their early years on farms in western Oklahoma before becoming the first generation of their families to go off to college. They were too young to have participated in World War II but benefited from the influx of veterans using the GI Bill that had caused many universities to expand. They both married and graduated and had their first children at about the same time – didn’t get drafted for the Korean War. They never lived in the same town after college, but they and their families continued to exchange visits and telephone calls for almost 70 years!

The next morning, I got up early and went to the Oklahoma State University Botanical Garden before I headed for home. A garden visit is always a good start to the day. This one is not large and, unlike many botanical gardens, does not include identifying signage for most of the plants. It was a cloudy morning…before the heat of the day began ramping up. The garden smells were a rich mix!