Making Lemons into Lemonade
Sometimes life gives you lemons and your only choice is to make lemonade. But sometimes it takes a lot of sugar to make that lemonade taste worth drinking. That is how our family felt after my mother-in-law passed away a few years ago. You see my husband, Aaron, had a wonderful Mom. Caring...Kind...Funny...a heart of gold. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother-in-law and grandma for my children.
Even though Mary, with her husband Glenn, raised four amazing children, she didn’t become that way by chance. Her faith moved her here from Sedalia Missouri to teach the school children at St. Peter’s Lutheran School in Evansville. Through this single act, is where my father-in-law, Glenn, and Mary met and fell in love, and in turn, I now have my perfect match made in heaven!
Even though Mary stopped teaching at St. Peter’s when she had children, she didn’t stop teaching her four children about gardening, discipline, Jesus, and the value of family. I witnessed all these teachings in action in the short time she had with my own children. She loved her grandchildren the most. She loved attending baseball games, dance recitals, and witnessing them experience holy sacraments. She proudly wore her grandma’s sweatshirt with all her grandchildren’s names on it.
Unfortunately, soon after I started dating Aaron, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Even though in the beginning she could handle the tremors and shuffling of her feet. But over twenty years of living with this terrible disease; it progressively worsened, with loss of memory, confusion, and many other symptoms to finally living in a care center. She passed away just one month before meeting her final grandchild. We miss her terribly.
So why the long story about a beautiful soul?... Even though this is our fourth year expanding our farm to include cut flowers, Aaron and I felt so wholeheartedly honored by how accepting our community and surrounding communities have supported our farm. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! And in turn, we wanted to give back. As I soul-searched and pondered I have always felt there wasn’t enough fundraising for Parkinson’s Disease at the local level. And through my research, I came across that red tulips represent Parkinson’s Disease. Right then, I knew I needed to make an order! We started to make plans to raise a batch of red tulips and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Michael J. Fox Foundation in honor of Aaron’s mom. So this past fall the Koester gang came together and planted red tulip bulbs in honor of their mom, mother-in-law, and grandma. It was a great day! And it sparked so many good memories of us with her.
When I talk to friends and family about Mary’s condition, it always seems everyone knows someone that suffers from PD. Please consider helping us bring awareness to this disease, give to an organization that is fighting to find a cure, and honor a wonderful woman. With the sale of each bouquet of tulips, a portion of the profits will be donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to help fund research for Parkinson’s Disease. Click Here to reserve your bouquet today! And be part of the cure!
How to pick up your bouquet? Bouquet pick-up will be on April 22, 2023, at our farm located at 4252 State Route 159 Red Bud, IL 62278.
Mary’s family: Husband Glenn, Children, and spouses: Chris and Lisa, Nathan and Jodi, Angela and Troy, Aaron and Carrie.
Grandchildren: Jordan, Tyler, Katie, Alicia, Brayden, Grace, Cason, Ella, Blake, and Jase
This is how we are making our lemonade. Add enough sugar...and maybe a bouquet of flowers on the side... our flowers will bring awareness and a gift of research to a foundation for a mom, wife, grandma, and friend like Mary.
As always, thank you, friend!
Carrie & Family
P.S. Want to learn more about Parkinson’s Disease? Here is a Parkinson’s Disease 101 for basic information needs