Jeepney Press / Mae Grace

AMAZING GRACE : Flowers of May

by Mae Grace

May is the month to stay in touch with family and friends, and be drowned in an ocean of flowers and fiestas. Wow! That’s a lot of “f” words! But there’s one “f” word that doesn’t describe the month of May, and that is “forgettable”. May is always full of fun memories that we can always go back to again and again while reminiscing childhood memories and taking comfort in them.

Stored in my memory bank were those days sa aming probinsya during summer breaks from school, where my siblings, friends and I would pick flowers indiscriminately from Nanay and Lola’s cherished flowering plants in the garden and offer them to the Blessed Mother every afternoon for our daily Flores de Mayo activities. The little chapel near our house would be full of little kids bringing flowers from home or from kind neighbors, singing and praying together with our big brothers and big sisters acting as our “teachers” in this daily Catholic devotion dedicated to Mother Mary.

In Japan, spring is the best time to be awed by endless species and varieties of flowering plants, bushes, weeds and even trees and perennials blooming one after another, endlessly, without stopping. No wonder flowers always bring a sense of enchantment, joy and hope to a person’s heart and soul. Ikaw? Anong naaalala mo tuwing buwan ng Mayo?

Mae Grace

Jeepney Press