Let’s Celebrate!

Happy Birthday, Weeds & Wildflowers!

Weeds & Wildflowers was born one year ago.

It started as my personal publication — all for me. But, in the creation process, it became a community publication, one where I can share and where others can share with me. And, from that, my husband Captain Argentina decided to finally join Medium and join me here on Weeds & Wildflowers.

Weeds & Wildflowers became our publication, meaning all of us — everyone who contributes their words and photos and all who read, clap, and comment.

One year later, W&W has 675 followers and 165 contributors!

Thank you — each and every one of you — for being part of this incredible experience.

I’ve been thinking about celebrations a lot lately — probably because gatherings have been locked down, postponed, canceled, and buttoned-up due to an unwelcome guest named Corona.

May and June are traditional months of celebrations — mostly, graduations and weddings. But, so much is not happening these days.

I feel sorry for all the graduates that didn’t have their traditional once-in-a-lifetime moments of celebration. Instead, they resorted to drive-by graduations and neighborhood congratulations like this sign outside a school near my home:

I know of several weddings, including one in our family, that were reluctantly postponed for — well, no one knows for how long. Corona keeps us guessing.

This meme made its rounds on Facebook and is so appropriate:

We simply don’t know what the future holds. And, maybe, we never did, but we thought we did. That’s why we made plans and celebrated milestones in spite of uncertainties. Now, we know how uncertain the future is.

Since celebrations are mostly a no-go these days, I think a June writing prompt of Celebration Memories will cheer us through the month.

What Celebration Memories do you have? Anything qualifies — wedding, birthday, anniversary, graduation, you name it.

My intention was to write my own Celebration Memory here but that’s not going to happen. Celebrations have, sadly, been mostly nonexistent since our grandchildren moved away. Birthdays and holidays are ignored. Our anniversary gets a little bit of attention — well, it used to — a lovely dinner out that probably won’t happen this year as I wonder when we will ever again feel safe eating in a restaurant.

I considered writing about our last grandkid celebration here — it was our grandson’s 11th birthday a few weeks before their move two years ago. Truly, I did try to write about the asado (Argentine cookout) that Captain Argentina prepared for the birthday boy and his 7 friends, as well as various adults that came and went during the day-long celebration, and the swimming and soccer and poker games that kept all entertained. But, tears blinded me and are doing the same now. Captain Argentina says that happy memories should make me happy but, somehow, they don’t.

So, I will stop my reminiscing and ask all of you to share your Celebration Memories while I dry my tears.

Please use Writing Prompt Response as one of your tags. As with all Weeds & Wildflowers prompts, this one has no deadline.

I am tagging our current contributors below. If you write for Weeds & Wildflowers and your name does not appear, please know the omission is a simple oversight, and you are included. But, I ask that you let me know. This list is a copy-and-paste thing with new names added each month. If you were omitted this month, you probably will be next month, too. Let me know and I’ll make sure your name is included next time!

If you are reading this and are not a writer for W&W but would like to be, please respond below and you will be added.

Our current contributors:

Tracy Aston Deborah Christensen The Solitary Cook Jack Herlocker Erik Smith Harper Thorpe Annie Littlewolf Sherry Kappel Anna Rozwadowska Louise Peacock Mark Starlin Hank Eng Ré Harris Francine Fallara Terijo Wild Flower nan fischer Susan Christiana antoinette nevitt Agnes Louis Nancy Peckenham Rusty Alderson wistfulwanderer Jk Mansi Guérin Asante Joseph Massey Tien Skye Jane Vogel Louis Hart Bridget Webber J. Criswell Captain Argentina Edd Jennings Kathy Jacobs Erica Graham Vaishali Paliwal Tanya Bryan David S. Dana Sanford Beth Bruno Anisesh Linda Caroll Christina Ward 🌼 Heidi Franklin Joan Evans Pam Nolan Shringi Kumari Erika Burkhalter Sam Kimberle Samantha Beach Anne Shark Nyaalo Mia Kat of Magik Farah Egby Maymuuna Aisha Juweria Zoomedin Samia Shruti Sinha Kushal Poddar Lori McCray Joe Pregadio Bre Bitz Marcia Laycock Zarina Dara 🥀💃🏻 Jessica Archuleta Lorna Ye Priyanka Srivastava David Wade Chambers Jenny Justice Lynette Clements Michelle Ewens Matthew Klope Leandro Teixeira Edie Tuck Christopher Bellkirk Susie Taylor Sylvia Clare MSc. Psychol Kris W Leon Justcallmejillybean Urszula Humienik Ann Litts Amang ＊大野芒＊水生花 Teddie Voss Matt Clarke Moriana Delgado Joanne Rigbye Lin Ro Brett Christensen Dascha Paylor Matt Booth Laura Manipura Carolyn Riker Joseph-Patrick McCain Ryan O’Neal Jr. Lynne Nardizzi Gretchen Lee Bourquin 💗POM-poet!💗 Christina Barber A. Christine Myers Scarlett Braden Tapan Avasthi ⛄️ Lisa Bolin Ray Burton Rosalind.J. Lee Noble Dias Martie Sirois Janet Chilton Somsubhra Banerjee Audrey Webster Linda A Robinson, PhD Kim Smyth Louise Foerster Tasneem Kagalwalla ALI YUSUF Katherine Pollock Pamela J. Nikodem, MS Terry Barr Sylvia Wohlfarth Hapsari Listya Sarah Levis Rhonda Marrone Kovid Rathee Shaan Sood Jean Crawford Evans Cassius Corbin Srinath S. Gail Walter Suzanne V. Tanner Jane Woodman Rebecca Marie Markham J Moody Tonya Renee the introvert Samantha Lazar Denise Shelton Beth Stormont Rob Moir Tristan Rivers Nikita Vipul Aspen Blue Rainman Krista Strom Jean Carfantan Nachi Keta Chris Alleyne Genvieve Deborah Barchi Flose Boursiquot Jonathan Greene Uday Jhunjhunwala Dipti Pande Gurpreet Dhariwal Nanette Schieron Edis Rune Sandra Barrett Sana Rose Shreya V Arjan Tupan Manasi Diwakar ICO Aimée Gramblin Quasimodo Connie Song Sadhana G Pablo Pereyra Noor Zanaid Dan Leicht Neha S.Saberwal Jamie McIntosh Anne Harrison Robert Bush Crystalclearcandace Amritansh Sagar Saloni Joshi Burak Göloğlu Madb Tighe Paul Mulliner Vinitha Dileep Martin Rushton Suryatapa JMontes Abigael Taiwo Gina Karasek Kallie Allen