Day has dawned in Melbourne - a glorious sunny, cloud free, fresh spring day and as the sun creeps up over the fenceline the birds are twittering, the new leaves are rustling on their branches, the bulbs are bursting from the ground.

In the midst of my grief I am happy.

I sit on the patio with my steaming coffee and my toast with apricot jam.  I sip and nibble quietly, enveloped in new life.  Agapanthus spikes stand to attention along the border of the garden, as they should, saluting the new day and reminding me of my friend lying in the hospital bed fading away.  But for some reason I am not crying, I am just quiet.  Many a time did we sit on this patio, after it was built a year ago, and she would mark time for me by cataloguing the progress of each of the new plants that were put in to the muddied ground which had been churned up by the workboots of whistling men.

Whenever she invited us over for dinner the only gift she loved was a bunch of flowers or leaves or branches from my garden now that her own could no longer be maintained.  Each time I would ravage the plants looking for anything with a bit of colour - sometimes hard in winter - to take to her.  I have never been one for cut flowers myself, it always seemed such a shame to watch them wilt in the vase.  But her face would light up as I handed her each bunch and she would examine and name as many of them as she could.  She would twitter with joy as she arranged them in the vase.  Back in the living room there would be at least 2 other vases full on the coffee table.  In she would come and move those aside to put my newest offering in the centre.  

I think I will take just one in each day in homage to my friend who demonstrated true selfless love to me so many times.

So I stand up and step on to the still dewy grass and walk across to the zygocactus in its hanging basket and pluck one fully opened bloom.  I cup it in my hand and walk back to my chair, sit and lean back with a sigh.

I sip my coffee.

The phone lights up with a message.  My breath catches in my throat but it is only a calender reminder....and so the waiting continues.......