Seeing him stand there, in the middle of the garden we grew together, my eyes get misty. Our plants were the children we never had, born from our mutual love of nature. I still remember the day we decided to turn the mini kids playground to a full-blown garden. We planted the seeds and watered them with love and dedication and attention and seeing the plants grow in size and the flowers bloom, filled our hearts with joy.
That was fifteen years ago. It’s not always been a perfect journey. There were times when we fought so hard that gardening and nurturing the plants were a source of solace to either of us. There were also times when the snow got so bad I feared for my babies, the plants I born with my two hands. But we got through it.
And that’s how I know we’ll get through this too. A diagnosis is not a death warrant even though it might feel like it.
word count: 165 words. The above story is in response to Flash Fiction For Aspiring Writers photo prompt challenge hosted by priceless Joy. Thank you very much Louise from A story teller’s abode for providing us with this week’s photo.
Randoms by a Random 
Wow! Very powerful!
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Thank y very much Tikeetha 😊
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Such a beautiful, touching story! I hope her (or his) diagnosis isn’t a death sentence and they will be able to continue nurturing their babies. Beautiful story, Ameena!
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Thank you very much PJ. I believe He will live and make the most of their remains time together (in their fictional world) 🙂
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Wonderful! 🙂
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Your creativity shined through powerfully once again in this story. The ending caught me by surprise, but I am getting used to that. The surprise factor shows up in your stories and in real life in getting to know you my “innocent” one 🙂
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Thank you Joy! Hahahha, I’m glad I caught you by surprise yet again, although it was an innocent one 😉😉
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Lovely story. The plants are their children, their solace as well. You are right a diagnosis is just that, there is more to it than a final pronouncement,one we all actually have coming. Hope your couple makes it through!
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Thank you very much Mandi. In my fictional world, they did survive through the diagnosis and made the most of it.
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For some reason (possibly connected to the diagnosis), they weren’t able to have kids, birthed or adopted. It seems they wanted kids, so that pinched my heart. But they’ve working through it and creating life with a garden. That’s my interpretation of this piece, and I think it’s absolutely beautiful and moving. Excellent job with this prompt.
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Ahhh, I really like your interpretation of it Izzy. Yeah, in my fictional world too, they did want kids but had accepted that they couldn’t have the,, thanks for sharing your thoughts 😊✋🏼
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A lovely story, Ameena, with such a poignant last line. It often takes something like that – a diagnosis, or scare of some sort – to make us think of our lives and what we have achieved. But I agree, a diagnosis is not a death warrant.
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Thank you very much Millie, yeah it does. I was watching a documentary today which was about, how sometimes coming close to death makes us realize how much we want to live. Thank you for sharing your thoughts 🙂
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And a nice message in the end… 🙂
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Thank you Prakash 😊
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Wonderful story. Hopefully, things will turn out well. It’s great that they have a positive attitude about it.
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Thank you JC. Hopefully they will. 🙂
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That last line ….
Great story.
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Thank you very much 😊
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