I have always admired the beauty of mums in the fall, but for some reason have never had one in my own yard until this year. My mum, you might say, is somewhat of a miracle. Allow me to share its story.

My husband, Jody, has owned and operated a lawn care business in Broken Bow for many years. Though landscaping is not technically part of the services he offers, he has been known to help out a customer especially a widow - with pruning and transplanting various flowers and shrubs.

Last fall, Jody was given a mum leftover from a landscaping project. He brought it home with plans of planting it in our yard. However, he forgot about the plant and left it in his vehicle for several days. Once he discovered the once pretty flowering plant, the hot temperatures in the car and lack of water had taken their toll. Certain the mum was dead, Jody threw the dried-up dirtball in the alley behind our house next to the dumpster.

That is where the mum lay, all winter long. Fast forward a few months to one spring day, when as Jody was taking out the trash, he noticed something green poking out of the dirt. Upon closer examination, he made the shocking discovery that the mum was alive!

Unsure of whether or not it would actually survive, he brought it to the house, dug a hole in the backyard, and planted it. He watered it and fed it with a little Miracle-Gro, and for the next several weeks we watched that mum begin to grow.

As I said, I have never had a hardy mum of my own - nor did I fully comprehend just how “hearty” these plants truly are! I watched in amazement as this plant that we believed was long dead began to get buds, and when fall came, beautiful flowers appeared. It is big and gorgeous.

While I admire the beauty of my mum, I also see a strong analogy and life lesson from her tale of survival - because I’m weird like that. Everyone had written off this mum, sure that it no longer had any life left in it or anything to offer anyone. The older I get, the more I can relate to that some days!

But the mum was far from finished. No one understood the level of resilience the plant had developed, and just when it seemed there was nothing left to give, it sprang forth with beautiful new life.

The mum is now the focal point of my backyard landscape area, and in my direct line of sight from where I sit and work in my sunroom. It serves as a reminder to me that no matter how dried up I may feel sometimes, I still have lots of blooms left in me.

Just another lesson from nature - because God is cool like that.