My mother's favorite flower was the iris. When we lived in Sunrise Wyoming she had quite the variety. I realized I loved them too. In 1988 I started planting them in my yard. I had several varieties planted, but my mom died in February 1989. They bloom in May; I was so disappointed because I really wanted to share them with her. I continued to grow my irises anyway. Now it is May 1995 my dad was here on a visit & he mentioned my flowers! I was so excited that he noticed. He had never taken the time to look at flowers or to smell the rose's so to speak. I asked him if he'd like to see all the different varieties that I had. To my amazement he said "yes!" I did feel guilty asking him to walk around the yard because he was very crippled due to rheumatoid arthritis. We went anyway. He said, "You sure do have quite a few colors here." We went to the north side of my home. We are standing there and he said, "Oh, Victoria look at the purple ones, they are beautiful!" There were 3 very dark purple iris. As we stood there looking at these incredible purple flowers, I felt like someone came to stand behind us and was hugging both of us. I never in my life felt closer to my dad as this moment. I felt this healing and peace in my heart and through my body! It felt so spiritual, peaceful and wonderful! I didn't want to move! No human could hug us this way. It was like we were enveloped in these huge angel wings! I felt it was my mom. But someone gave this verse from the Bible, (Psalm 91:4) He will shield you with his wings! They will shelter you. (I lost my dad June 22, 1995)

© Victoria

February 1996 When I got back from visiting my Aunt Jennie, who was dying in Cheyenne hospital. Wayne had a gift for me. It was an Angel figurine. She was on her knees with her hands in prayer. He said, "I chose the Angel that would mean the most to you!" She is beautiful! What the surprise was is her name Iris. He said, "there were about eight angels to choose from. I asked him if he knew her name and he said, "no why." I said, "her name is Iris!" He said, "It is?" He was surprised. I said, "You honestly didn't know this?" I said, "who was guiding you Wayne?" He just stood there in awe. I felt like it was a message to me, everything is going to be all right. An Angel named Iris, I still think about this to this day!