Ever since childhood, Anne had playfully romped through her parents gardens with her best friend, Ella. Those gardens had always been their special place. Whenever they had played together their imaginations had transformed their glistening enclosure of exotic plants and trees into whatever they wanted. Now Anne has blossomed into a gorgeous young woman of twenty-two. She just found out yesterday that Ella has committed suicide. In light of Ella’s binding friendship with Anne, Ella’s parents have asked her to speak at Ella’s funeral. Now as Anne writes the memorial that she prays will be worthy of her friend, she thinks back to their garden. Anne begins to write about how the two are so similar, yet different in the areas of nurturing, trust, and the assurance of their return.

A garden, like a friend, requires a certain amount of protection and consideration in order for proper development and health. It has been scientifically proven that if you speak to your flowers they will begin to show advancement. In the same way, a best friend will call for your attention when they are upset or excited in order to maintain supreme vigor, both physically and mentally. Another matter which is necessary for the survival of both gardens and friends is sunshine. Just as a flower insists on the actual light of the sun, a friend expects to share in happiness and friendship building activities. The last attribute is water. Where a plant entails the tangible presence of water, a friend needs to be able to count on your confidence in them. If given the proper amount of time and loyalty both will bloom, literally and figuratively, into their own unique perfection.

Where a friendship will benefit or shrivel depending on the amount of trust you have given it, a flower could care less. If you tell your secrets to a flower you can be assured that no one will ever know what you have said. Whereas with a friend it requires trust in order to progress to the point where one is comfortable in confining in someone. When you have worries you are most likely not going to converse with a flower, which cannot provide the support and advice you long for to ease them. When you have doubts a flower can neither confirm, or deny if they are warranted. A friend is another individual, like yourself, that may be able to help you by their thoughts and opinions like nothing else in all creation can. A flower may not care whether you have put your trust in them, but for a friend, trust may be the difference between a harvest of happiness or bitterness.

If you lose a flower, you have lost a thing of delicate beauty. If you lose a friend, you have lost a piece of your very own heart. When we think of flowers, we often think of groups or rows of the same kind. Each one like the other like perfect replicas on display. If you do not come into contact with a certain type of flower, you may venture out to the store and buy one. If a flower dies, depending on the specimen, it may grow back next season, or you may replace it yourself. Friends, on the other hand, are unique and singular. Never will you ever find one exactly like them again. If you lose them they are gone forever. You may be certain you will see a flower again soon, but you can never be positive you will lay eyes on an individual person again.

Friends and gardens are so similar yet different when it comes to the amount nurturing, trust, and the quantity of pain over their loss. Both flowers and friends require protection and consideration to keep them happy. The calming presence of a flower can never replace the soothing voice of a friend. Finally, you may never worry for the loss of a flower, but the loss of a friend is devastating. Now ask yourself this question. Have you been growing a beautiful garden of friendship, or an orchard of gnarled, twisted trees bearing the poisoned fruit of neglect?