November brought the very unexpected passing of a friend. His funeral service was this past weekend and I was honored to get to remember and mark his passing with flowers. His loving wife’s only request was that it would be something to wow Abe! I had such a good time thinking about what would do just that. Abe and Melissa loved to garden together and their peony collection is the finest in Richmond. Not ones to let a good flower go to waste, they rescued many peonies from abandoned places and gave them a new life in their garden. They were some of the first folks we met at Third since Melissa was on the search committee. Abe’s baked spaghetti proceeded him and it did not disappoint. Abe was jolly good fun and a loyal helper to his wife-they did everything together. He would try and make me laugh during church and I will alway hold dear the times we went to Jack Browns with them afterwards for a burger. Abe passed plants to me through Derek at work and they often looked just like buckets of dirt. Derek would say I’m not your drug mule and we would laugh. He would text me and ask if i wanted a plant/or other garden related item to which I would happily say yes only to find out that he asked Tracey Meadows first and that she had first right of refusal for all of the things….each time I would think I was first on that list only to find out that was not the case and I loved to give him a hard time about it. I can’t believe I won’t see him again this side of Heaven. I’m grateful that I knew him and wanted to celebrate the joy he brought to my life and so many others. SM