iris | Minnesota Prairie Roots

Sunflower field offers a quiet place to grieve August 10, 2023

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 4:59 PM
Tags: childhood death, death, Faribault, flower garden, grief, healing, infant death, Infants Remembered in Silence, iris, IRIS Sunflower Garden, loss, memories, Minnesota, nonprofit, sunflower field, sunflowers

*The sunflowers at their prime on July 31. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2023)*

IN THE GOLDEN HOUR before sunset on the last day of July, I grabbed my 35 mm Canon camera and headed with Randy to a field of sunflowers on Faribault’s east side. The 5-acre site, just off Division Street East behind Pleasant View Estates, is not an agri-tourism draw, but rather a place of peace, beauty and solace. A place to remember, to grieve.

*Signage at the sunflower field defines its intention. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2023)*

The nonprofit Infants Remembered in Silence created this flower-filled field with the help of donated land, volunteer planting, caretaking and more. IRIS, as the local organization is known, aims to support parents, family, friends, and professionals following the loss of a child in early pregnancy, from stillbirth, and other infant and early childhood deaths, no matter the cause.

*A path winds through the field of mini sunflowers. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2023)*

Walking the mowed paths curving through the hilly land proved emotional and moving for me. While I have not lost an infant or child (I nearly miscarried with my second pregnancy), my husband has lost siblings to stillbirth and miscarriage as have others in my circle. Most recently, my niece delivered her third son way too early in pregnancy for baby Hunter to survive. It was heartbreaking for Lindsey and Brent, their parents and those of us who love them. Likewise, 42 years ago my Uncle John and Aunt Sue grieved the death of their stillborn son, Luke. I thought of Luke and Hunter and baby Cheyenne, born too early to friends Bill and Geri decades ago. There’s much loss represented in the IRIS Sunflower Garden.

*Visitors pen messages and names of infants and children on a memorial whiteboard. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2023)*

I will share more in a future post. More photos and observations and thoughts. Because I am dealing with sensory overload issues that leave me symptomatic and not feeling at all well if I’m on a screen for too long, I have to wait until I’m having a good day, good enough to visually tolerate additional photo processing and writing a longer post. It is the reason I am blogging only minimally. I am focusing on my health.

*Scattered throughout the field are spaces like this to pause, reflect, grieve. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2023)*

But today I needed to alert you to the IRIS Sunflower Garden before the blooms are dried, the field only a memory of the beautiful space it was while in full, glorious bloom 11 days ago.

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Strength & hope October 14, 2022

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: book, challenges, gladiolus, Heather Morris, Holocaust, Hope, iris, mental health, mental illness, strength, struggles, thoughts, Three Sisters, World Mental Health Day

*The Straight River roils by at the dam in Owatonna. I see struggles. I see strength. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)*

WHAT’S YOUR DEFINITION of strength? Whom do you consider strong? Have you faced a challenge, or multiple challenges, in life that required strength? While our answers vary, especially on the third question, I expect threads of commonality in responses.

Strength, from my perspective, is about fortitude and endurance. It’s about somehow finding the ability to face a challenge, to persevere, to come out on the other side with a renewed sense of personal power. Not power in the sense of control, but power that reaffirms one’s ability to deal with whatever life throws at us.

We all have something, right? Financial hardships. Health issues. Loss. Pain. Family members who are struggling. But, admittedly, when we are in the middle of a lot, it can sometimes feel like we are alone, that others live perfect lives unencumbered by issues that drain, stress and, yes, sometimes overwhelm. Nothing could be further from the truth. I repeat: We all have something, whether individually or within our families. We are not alone.

The novel, Three Sisters by Heather Morris, prompted me to write on the topic of strength. Although fictional, the book is based on a true story about three sisters held in a concentration camp. This is a story of indescribable atrocities witnessed and experienced. This is also a story of irrepressible strength and hope. I encourage you to read this novel and also watch Ken Burns’ newest documentary, “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” which happened to air at the same time I was reading the book. Together, the two were almost too much for me to emotionally take in. It’s a lot to comprehend the inhumanity and cruelty of mankind. Those sent to concentration camps certainly exhibited strength, whether they survived or not.

*The iris symbolizes hope. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2021)*

In reading Three Sisters, I learned that gladiolus (the flower) signify strength. And the iris, which is part of the glad family, denotes hope. The iris was my mom’s favorite flower. “Hope” is a word I’ve held, and continue to hold, close. “Hope” is not simply a wish. By my definition, it is an active verb that focuses on light shining through darkness. It is a word, too, that envelopes gratitude and believing that things will get better.

*I keep this stone on my office desk. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)*

My name, Audrey, means noble and strong. I wish I’d asked my mom why she chose that name for me, her first-born daughter. I never did, and now she’s gone, but the name fits. I’ve had to be strong many times throughout my life. We all have something, right? Challenges can make us better, more empathetic and compassionate people. That is the good that arises from struggles.

*This message refers to struggles with mental illness. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)*

This week, especially, with World Mental Health Day on October 10, I consider mental health. From anxiety to depression to brain disorders like bi-polar and schizophrenia, these are undeniably hard diagnoses which require incredible strength to face. Simply getting up in the morning, functioning, can prove difficult. There are no cures. No quick fixes. Medication can manage, therapy can help. And even though we are getting better at recognizing and understanding, stigma remains. We can do better at supporting, encouraging, helping. We need more mental health professionals to meet the growing demand for mental health care.

Strength. Hope. Those two words inspire and uplift. Gladiolus and iris. Those two flowers represent the same. From the pages of a novel about three Holocaust survivors to my name to life experiences, I understand what it means to be strong, to feel hope.

TELL ME: I’d like to hear your thoughts on strength and hope.

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Oh, flowers, the reasons I love thee June 6, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Faribault, flowers, iris, Minnesota

DO YOU HOLD A CERTAIN FLOWER in reverent respect?

Perhaps you appreciate the first daffodils of spring erupting in bursts of yellow through a too-long colorless winter landscape.

Or you delight in the petals of a red tulip unfolding. I remember how my eldest daughter, as a preschooler, surmised that the tulips were opening their mouths. I’ve never thought of tulips in quite the same way since her astute observation. Now I see blood red lips.

I’ve always loved daisies. Perhaps it is the seventies flower child in me emerging or my focus on simplicity and non-extravagance. When I married 33 years ago, the humble daisy was an integral part of bouquets.

Peonies remind me of yesteryear. These massive bushes weighed with lush blossoms of fragrant pinks are the flowers of our grandmas.

And then there are irises, in full bloom now here in southern Minnesota. They remind me of my sweet mom, who loves irises.

Isn’t it this way with so many things in life? We treasure something because of the memories held therein.

IN FARIBAULT, RIGHT NOW, hundreds of irises are blooming along a corner lot at Minnesota Highway 60 and Shumway Avenue. What a wonderful gift to my community from this east-side resident: