ASOKA'S FLOWER

    One of my favorite book is entitled "Wonderful Inspirational Stories" by Kathy Lamancusa. She works as a professional speaker, TV presenter, florist,  and garden expert. This book contains wonderful experiences from people of all backgrounds have had about flowers and the magic they bring to their lives. It can be said that this book is similar to the "Chicken Soup For The Soul" series with warm stories. In short, the stories in this book left me in awe and amazement at the power of flowers and their impact on a person's life.

    Since childhood, I have always loved flowers. The yard of my childhood home was overgrown with various kinds of flowers. There are roses, Asoka, gardenia, chrysanthemum, besides fruits, vegetables, and medicinal plants. Almost all of these plants were planted by my father during his lifetime. In our family, he is known as a "cold-handed" person when comes to plants. Almost all the plants that he planted will always succeed in growing very fertile when compared to ours. I think that's one of his talents, and that inspired me to have a house with a garden someday.

    As a person who loves flowers, I believe in the language of flowers. I believe that every flower can represent a moment, and can speak when we are lost for words, and the ability makes us feel comfort at certain moments. For me, that moment happened on the day of my father's funeral. I was surprised by the children who came with flower arrangements for dad's funeral. Uniquely, the flower arrangements are not like the flower arrangements that I usually see. Instead of roses or chrysanthemums, the flower arrangement was dominated by yellow Ashoka, which seemed a little strange to me at the time.

    The surprises were not over yet. When my father's funeral service will begin, as usually the table where the priest leads the prayer must be decorated with a vase filled with flowers. Because we don't have a flower shop in our village, one of my family tried to find flowers in our yard but just only a few left. That is because since six years ago, my father had to be busy fighting against his illness. Uniquely, the only flower that was blooming that day in our yard was the yellow Asoka which seemed to be in season for blooming at that time. This situation made me curious then tried to find the meaning of the Ashoka flower. How surprised and goosebumps I was when I read the meaning of the flower is a symbol of death. Ashoka which comes from Sanskrit also means "Without Grief" or free from sadness.

    That evening, when I saw my fathers buried, for some reason I felt strong. The hidden message of the Ashoka flower seemed to tell me that he was free from his pain and also tell me that one day, the feeling of sadness due to losing his figure will also disappear.  I don't know when, but sure. Ashoka flower meanings just gave me the strength to go through one of the saddest moments that ever happened in my life. I seem to get a message from my father that death is not something scary, but death can also mean freedom from pain, and sadness. One more thing that if you believe in something, the universe will always be willing to show you. Just the way i believe and love flowers 😊