Lack of communication can destroy a family. In Leota’s Garden, why did Leota keep her secrets even after her husband was gone?
She kept silent out of deep hurt and pride. Her mother-in-law had poisoned Nora against her, but Leota couldn’t bring herself to destroy her daughter’s love for her grandmother. Leota made peace with her mother-in-law and actually took care of her in her old age. Perhaps she hoped the woman would tell the truth to Nora. Unfortunately, she didn’t. Like many people, Leota hoped “time would heal all wounds”, but time didn’t heal anything because the truth had never been revealed. Nora still judged Leota by the bitter gossip she heard as a child, and her stubbornness cheated her out of a relationship with a mother who loved her deeply and sacrificed greatly for her. One of the things I wanted to show in this book was that sometimes you don’t get another chance to mend relationships. We have to jump at any opportunity to say “I love you” and hear each other’s story. Otherwise, the story may never told, the relationship never mended.
