....the best is yet to be.

The idea to build a stone rose using the capping stones, therefore, germinated in my heart of hearts. It was an evocative thing, an outpouring of fond memories of my parents, whom I regard as heroes in my life. It is they who inspired me by sharing their love of plants and wild creatures, and that precious legacy brings endless joy into my life and makes my heart sing.

I planted up the spaces between the capping stones with little sedums, which continue to bloom each summer. The middle stones on the top were bare initially, till one day, while browsing in a shop for gardening gloves, we came across a sundial. My husband looked on as I read the two lines of verse on it, taken from a romantic poem by Robert Browning.

I never fail to look at the stone rose without remembering my parents with love and affection, my kind neighbour without whom the project would not have been possible, and my wonderful husband who capped it all when he cemented the sundial in the middle.

Grow old along with me,
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made;
Our times are in His hand,
Who sayeth “A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God; see all, nor be afraid!”

Robert Browning