MOON FLOWERS

Yes, you're right, it looks as if the sun is shining, and it is! This was made early one morning, last summer! The flowers grow on a vine and blossom at night. They fall off during the day, and new ones bloom the next night. The shoots you see at the top right of the picture are ready to bloom. Moon flowers are very special to me, and I hadn't seen any since my grandfather passed away in 1967--until a co-worker asked if I'd ever heard of them, and she brought me some seeds. She said she'd never gotten them to come up, so she thought I'd like to try! I've had some every summer since then, for about 5 years! Now, let me explain why they're so special!
My mother's dad and stepmom lived in rural Butler County outside a small town named Garland, Alabama. He had retired, and gardened to raise food for canning and freezing and EATING (WOW was it ever good). Our family usually went down for a couple of weeks each summer, and the summer of 1967 was no different. I had graduated from high school and was to begin my college career soon, as it was late August. Early one morning, I awoke before daylight and went to the bathroom, which was located at the rear of the house. I had to walk onto the back porch to reach this "wonderful" addition to the original house, a beautiful addition my grandmother took great pride in. (I can still smell how clean it was when I remember their home.) When I left the bathroom my grandfather "Papa" was sitting by the kitchen door, on this porch, quietly watching the moon. He asked if I was OK, and then told me to come to him so that he could show me something. Papa never talked much, but that night he showed me a beautiful plant in his backyard, a large cluster of vines with huge white blossoms all over it! MOON FLOWERS!!!! He explained how they bloom nightly, only to close and drop off during the day. After a few minutes, I sat in a cane-bottom chair beside him and we talked until after sunrise--about lots of things, school, my friends, my family and about his life and things he'd done. It was the most I ever heard Papa say, and I loved having that special time with him. As one of six children, there was seldom a time for anyone to have alone time with Mama and Papa! I felt really close to him after that night, and really enjoyed having spent that special time with my grandfather. At the end of the vacation, as we said goodbye, plans were made for a Christmas visit, even a suggestion that we might get to come back for Thanksgiving! There was no warning, no way of knowing as we left, that two and one-half weeks later, early in the morning, before sunrise a phone would ring, in the dormitory at my new school, and I would learn that Papa had died suddenly, of a heart attack. I cherish the memory of that night we shared, so happy and so full of caring! As we were leaving, after his funeral, Mama took me aside and told me that she had something for me--Papa had canned some fig preserves, and she wanted me to have them, because he had told her how much he enjoyed talking to me! It thrilled me to get them and to remember him so fondly.