The Care of Sisters.

My mother came to lunch the other day telling me about the roses her sister-in-law had culled from her garden and brought to her, a confetti of buttermilk, coral, shell, linen, fuchsia. “They bloom around May seventh every year,” my mom explained. “The same day my brother died.” She was cutting her sandwich in half, adjusting her napkin, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.

I felt the familiar shape of something: Elizabeth’s roses, the way they return every May, carrying with them two sister feelings, always close at heel with one another: first, the revisiting of grief at the dawn of summer, and second, the relief of finding her there. They are receipts of one another. The sadness of missing her; the happiness of having her at all, even in this remote, reincarnate way.

I thought later about the gift of the roses, from one grieving sister figure to another. I thought about Nature, too, as the original sister figure, sending us reassurances when we need them. Maybe without even trying. Maybe the gift is her steadiness.

The next morning, an enormous flatbed truck got stuck in our cul de sac. I don’t know how, exactly; I just know that it ended up having to drive through the plantings in the center of the circle, leaving deep, wounding track marks where daffodil stems and liriope used to be, dismantling the small trail of flat stones one of my neighbors had installed there as a foot path for children. I checked first for the stone my neighbor Lynn had painted with Tilly’s paw print after she died. Somehow, it was intact, just submerged in dirt, repositioned at an odd angle, like a broken bone. I pressed it into the soil, embarrassed at my own relief.

As we surveyed the circle, my husband told me that the truck driver had insisted he would return to remedy the damage. But the next morning, I looked out the window and saw my neighbor Tiffany on her hands and knees, repairing the earth herself.

“Thank you,” I called to her from the stoop, where I was preening my children before sending them off to school.

“Oh, it’s a gift for me, too,” she said, gesturing to her head, as if to signal her wellbeing. “I have four days off of work and I plan to spend all of it in the dirt.”

There is a Greek myth about the Heliades, the Daughters of the Sun who experienced such profound grief over the death of their brother — weeping for months on the banks of the River Eridanus — that the gods took pity on them and turned them into poplars. I don’t love the story itself, the patronizing of their pain, except in the abstract: their tears transform them into trees. Trading sorrow for sap and shade.

Every square inch on this green earth has been anointed by the care of sisters. We are surrounded by women who share and share and share their gardens and their grief and their goodness, who kneel in the earth to tend to the broken. Who paint the stones in memoriam and deliver the cut flowers to the hospital beds. Who rebloom every May.

Post-Scripts.

+More on Elizabeth’s roses here and here.

+Lighthouse friends.

+He named the bright spot on the moon after her.

Shopping Break.

+Putting together a roundup of my favorite summer lounge pieces, and had to mention this early, as it’s 50% off and sure to sell out: pointelle pants in tomato red for under $60! Also: these VERY popular striped lounge pants were just restocked in most sizes. Run!

+Speaking of popular striped lounge: La Ligne restocked its bestselling Leo collection, which includes this sporty, oversized knit and matching shorts. (Use code MAGPIE10).

+The button-down Tuckernuck can’t keep in stock!

+AYR is running a sale! It includes my favorite fashion-y sweatshirt (elevates the jeans-and-a-tee look), which runs TTS and this chic heavyweight tee.

+Trending among Magpies. Perfect with these white jeans from Mother that a lot of you have been buying!

+If you’re looking for a different denim silhouette: cool white barrel leg jeans for summer.

+If you love the VB Kiki jacket I keep yapping about but not the price tag, consider this white eyelet statement, on sale for under $100!

+A perfect summer basket bag. Also love this packable one (40% off!)

+A full restock of my absolute favorite swimsuit in the exact colorway I waited to buy!

+This “boobie pillow” (stick with me…) has a cult following. It was originally designed to prevent cleavage wrinkles while sleeping but now people say it has changed their sleep (they love to sleep while hugging it!), and that every member of their family has one. I’ve also heard it’s a great companion for recovery, breast-feeding, side-sleeping, I am very intrigued.

+20% off at Irene Forte! They are known for their rejuvenating night cream (contains Myoxinol — “a neuropeptide derived from Hibiscus Seeds proven to deliver younger-looking skin” that has been called “nature’s botox”), but I also want to plug that I am IN LOVE with this lemon toning spray. Like, can’t live without it. Refreshing, smells like a dream, preps and primes skin. I use it first thing after cleansing.

+Speaking of cleansing: I keep hearing good things about this oil cleanser. “This is a facial cleanser like no other. The distinction lies in its honey-like consistency, a magnet for excess oils and makeup. When mixed with water, this gentle cleanser transforms into a milky emulsion.” Color me intrigued.

+Perfect striped alt to a tee.

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