The Snowball bush...

Last year when we moved in to our new house, my mom took me around the yard to tell me which plants were which, and which flowers were which...I am not good at that. There was one tree next to my deck that she couldn't figure out...neither could Sarah when I asked her. I was ready to cut it down because we want to expand our deck and, well this tree didn't look like it had a lot of life to it. But, both she and Sarah told me not do do anything until this spring when it would bloom

Yesterday I was out on the back deck and looked down and saw this flower coming off of the tree and sitting on the deck...I looked over and thought "this must be a snowball tree." We had one when I was growing up, and so did my grandma...I have always loved them. So I had to call my mom and tell her. She asked me if I remember the story of the snowball bush from when she was a baby...since I didn't, she told it to me again.

When my mom was born, my Grandpa Williams, Cleve was over in Germany fighting in WWII. He ended up being captured and was a prisoner of war. My Grandma was very optimistic he would return home and would say, "hopefully by the this holiday, or that special occasion, Cleve will be home." Her dad, my Grandpa Becker told her, "When the snowball bush is in bloom, Cleve will be home." My Grandpa ended up making friends with a German guard who helped him escape. And that year, just after my mom turned one (he had never seen her), and when the snowball bush was in bloom, my Grandpa made it home. And when he did, he wanted his picture for the newspaper taken in front of the snowball bush.

Here is a letter he wrote to my mom on her first birthday....

He died when I was not quite two years old. I don't remember him, but he will always be one of my biggest heroes....