Today's post is a very special one - it features my parents but more specifically, my mom, Jennifer Slaughter. To start, my mom is one of the most selfless, caring, smart and influential women I have ever met. She is so inspiring and I hope to some day be the woman and mother she has continued to become.
I had one of those childhoods where you went outside when the sun came up and did not come in from playing in the garden or building rock forts until the sun went down. My parents were always piddling in the garden or planting gorgeous arrays of flowers along the perimeter of our home. My parents have dozens upon dozens of flowers growing in our gardens and they decided they wanted to share the beauty with others. After all, flowers are God's gift to us to help us smile. We pick a bouquet of flowers to put in our home because it brightens the room. We send flowers to someone because we love them and want to brighten their day.
In 2000, they created a flower ministry called Perenity - perennial and eternity combined. It is a ministry that provides flower arrangements to patients in hospice care. Flowers give hope. They rejoice. They renew. They love. And this is why Perenity was born. Perenity was their way of giving their garden to others. Over the past 14 years, Perenity has provided thousands of bed side arrangements to those patients. The flowers were first coming from their garden then began being donated from weddings, funerals, events and any occasion that had left over flowers.
My mom is a woman of faith and I believe this was her true calling. She can turn a centerpiece from a wedding into dozens of beautiful individual arrangements that will brighten someones day. She will make up to hundreds of arrangements a week, working diligently to make sure each one is special and unique.
"When you receive a flower, whether it's an apology or to celebrate an anniversary or whatever the occasion, it just makes you happy," Jennifer says, explaining what she describes as the simple core of Perenity's mission. "You can imagine this very ill person in a dark time in their life, someone brings them flowers, and they're amazed that a stranger cared enough to make an arrangement for them. It lets them know they're not walking through this time alone."
During college, I interned at New Beacon Hospice, the hospice that receives many flowers from Perenity. I went on home visits. I met the patients. I met the families. I began to love them as though they were my own family members. I hurt when they hurt and I cried when they cried. On the days when we brought flowers, I was so excited. I knew that visit would be a special one because it brought happiness. It brought love. I will never forget the joy I brought into the lives of my patients.
At Christmas, flowers are not as abundant, so she turned her flower workshop into a Christmas tree workshop. She buys 12 inch Christmas trees, lights them and decorates them for the patients. Now these are not just ordinary Christmas trees. They are ornate, delicate, beautiful and most of all, they are specially designed for patients. There are Auburn trees, Alabama trees, cat trees, fishing trees and even trees that are themed for nurses and firefighters. She can turn any hobby into a Christmas tree. Perenity makes about 500-600 of these trees every holiday season. The holidays are always a hard time, especially for those who are battling an illness. These trees are special. Even after the patients have passed on, the family has something very special to remember their loved ones. My family knows this from experience. My mom's mom, my Nana, passed away while in Hospice care in December 2008. My mom made her an Elvis tree (She LOVED Elvis) and every year, our family brings it out at Christmas time and it is our Nana tree. We will always cherish it.
My mom has a special story about a patients she likes to share when speaking about Perenity:
“A few years back I used these cute little glass hummingbird ornaments on a tree that I wanted to keep for myself,” she says sheepishly. “The New Beacon Hospice coordinator Greg called and told me that one of the news channels wanted to do a story on me delivering a tree to a patient. ‘Pick a special tree,’ he said, and I knew immediately it would be that one. The day before, he took me to meet Virginia Hayes, who suffered from congestive heart failure. Once I walked into her small home, I saw she had hummingbirds everywhere, and I couldn’t believe it! The next day, I brought the tree and we just cried. I had a relationship with this woman and took her flowers every week until she died,” she relates.
My mom has dozens and dozens of stories similar to this and she continues to bring happiness through her work.
Working in the wedding and event industry, I see so many wedding flowers thrown away. They are still gorgeous and could have been used to serve. My request is to help Perenity get the word out about donating your used wedding and event flowers so that they can be repurposed to bed side arrangements for hospice patients. Donations can also be made in the form of vases, buckets, ornaments or even a donation in the memory of a loved one. Please contact my mom, Jennifer Slaughter, at jenniferslaughter@mac.com.
Together we can make a difference.
In Memory of my Nana, Mary Hollon
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