At 71, she has lived with cancer for 24 years, and growing flowers and plants keeps her ever younger
Auntie Liu's full name is Liu Dehong, and her story of life with flowers and plants is nothing less than a vivid, lively textbook of positive energy for modern society.
At 47, Auntie Liu was unfortunately diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. After surgery, she began growing flowers in large numbers, so many that "there was no room for them at home," and in thisplanting flowers year after year, spending every day in the company of flowers and plantslife, she has safely passed 24 years, welcomed her 71st birthday, and grown happier and happier.
The cyclamen Auntie Liu grew
"In this life, live one day and be happy one day", Auntie Liu told Yinuo cheerfully in her hearty Hebei dialect: "When I got cancer, I thought, this disease and I were fated to meet. I won't blame anyone; I'll just face it with strength."
The buttercups Auntie Liu grew
In a life spent among flowers and plants, the open-hearted Auntie Liu forgot her illness, forgot her pain, and with diligence, optimism and love she shared, passing through every spring and autumn, which made her ever more grateful,and many surprises appeared in her life's journey. By the time she was 71 and Yinuo had the chance to meet her, her voice sounded as young as a 50-year-old's.
The African daisies Auntie Liu grew
Life tested her, and she returned life sunshine. And so the years took care of her, letting her live out an ever better version of herself. "My flowers and plants deserve much of the credit," said Auntie Liu.
The cactus Auntie Liu grew has bloomed
A love of flowers and plants from childhood
fully fulfilled after her cancer diagnosis
Auntie Liu came from a scholarly family. Her father was passionately fond of flowers and plants, and as a child the courtyard at home was a blaze of competing blossoms, so a love of flowers and plants was hidden away in her small heart. But her father cherished the plants so much that the children were not allowed to touch a single branch or leaf; this fondness lay hidden, yet always leaked out unintentionally.
When she attended middle school in Baoding, the school had many beautiful flowers and plants. She gazed at the flowers so intently that sometimes she did not even hear the bell. When the teacher learned of this, she actually allowed her "obsession." After she started working, life was busy, and she could only grow one pot, two pots, at most no more than 3 pots of flowers, to satisfy her craving for flowers.
The rain lilies Auntie Liu grew
Then illness struck. The doctor told Auntie Liu's husband that his wife's illness was advanced, that the hope of a cure was slim, and that she did not have much time left.
After careful thought, Auntie Liu's husband asked the doctor to conceal the truth, telling her that the surgery had been very successful and that she only needed to rest for a while and her health would improve, with many days still ahead. The kind lie woven together by her husband and the doctor lifted her mood, which had sunk for a time.
The radiotherapy after surgery made Auntie Liu suffer. Her husband knew his wife loved flowers, so he would buy many fresh flowers to help her through the hard times. When she left the hospital, Auntie Liu thought,if heaven could still give her 10 years of life, she must live them wonderfully。
The primroses Auntie Liu grew
Back home from the hospital, besides listening to music and reading books, Auntie Liu devoted herself to growing flowers and plants. From a few pots, she gradually expanded to several dozen pots. She loved every kind of flower, and tried growing any that suited the local soil and water.She threw herself into planting flowers and tending plants, forgetting time, forgetting her illness, and fulfilling the love of flowers and plants she had had from childhood。
The petunias Auntie Liu grew
Growing flowers with care and delighting in sharing them
She became a much-respected "flower-crazy old lady"
Just how devoted was Auntie Liu to growing flowers? For example, she was especially fond of clivia, but to grow a flower well you must understand its habits, and clivia is greatly affected by factors such as water, soil, fertilizer, light, temperature and humidity. So Auntie Liuobserved the clivia's growth every day, and even started keeping notes。
Clivia, image from the internet
Every day she watered and fertilized the clivia, carried the flowers out to bask in the sun, made her own spray bottle from a drink bottle, and used a small hoe to loosen the soil around the flowers. In her eyes, flowers and plants have life and spirit, and she talked to the flowers every day. Happily, her clivia lived up to expectations and grew very vigorously.
Besides clivia, Auntie Liu also grew many other seasonal flowers and plants. Geraniums, freesias, Madagascar periwinkles, nasturtiums, narcissus and more filled the two balconies of her home, one large and one small,with fresh flowers blooming in every season。
The bacopa Auntie Liu grew
Because she was so absorbed in tending flowers and plants, Auntie Liu could hardly feel the illness at all. She gradually resumed her diligent work: cooking, doing housework, cleaning the rooms, watering the flowers and tending the plants, never treating herself as a patient to be waited on.
In 2008, she once had bone pain all over her body, and the hospital told her the cancer cells had spread to her bones, butshe simply did not spend time worrying about her illness. Years passed like flowing water. Today she still has bone pain all over, but she never lets it trouble her. When her left hand hurts too much to lift, she waters the flowers with her right hand, and her days remain full of sunshine.
The fuchsias Auntie Liu grew
In 2010, Auntie Liu began sharing the flowers and plants she grew online, and this earnest, optimistic and warm-hearted lady quickly won the affection of netizens. Many flower-growing enthusiasts interacted with her, which felt new and exciting to her.
Even now, Auntie Liu spends quite a lot of time every day interacting with netizens online. Every Saturday, whenever she has time, she goes to parks, Hebei University and other places to look at flowers and take photos. Online she not only uploads the flowers and plants she grows and her flower-growing experience, but also shares flower photos she snaps on her outings and answers flower friends' questions about growing them. When she sees beautiful pictures posted by flower friends, she reposts them too.
The hoya Auntie Liu grew
Living cheerfully and optimistically
cancer dares not touch her again
Auntie Liu has lived with illness for 23 years, inspiring many people. Many fellow patients come to Auntie Liu for advice, and she takes them to visit her "garden balcony," saying open-heartedly: "I treat flowers and plants as my life, talk to them every day, and they have given me rich rewards in return. Even though I have cancer, I have never given up.Growing flowers and plants makes me very happy spiritually！”
The daisies Auntie Liu grew
Besides growing flowers, Auntie Liu is also devoted to music. Her favorite is Chinese folk music. The first song she learned, at age 6, was the Mongolian piece "Pastoral Song," and she has listened to it to age 71 without ever tiring of it. Blind Abing's "Moon Reflected on Second Spring" gives her strength every time she hears it.She thought, in such difficult circumstances, Abing could still play such beautiful music; I should learn much from him。
Auntie Liu grew
freesias
She sighed to Yinuo:to be able to cultivate a hobby or interest is truly a blessing in life。
When Auntie Liu immerses herself in a hobby, she is utterly focused. When she grows flowers, she is wholly with the flowers and plants, and her ears cannot take in music, so she does not play music while growing flowers. When she listens to music attentively, scenes of the vast grasslands, herds of horses and yurts from Mongolian music rise in her mind. Even though she has never been to the grasslands in her life, relying on videos and photos she has seen before, she has taken a mental journey across them.
Auntie Liu said,in this life, one must have a good mindset. "Heaven let me get sick, and I can't blame heaven or others. If I think positively, cooperate with the doctors and face it optimistically, I can live long; if I always think about why I got this illness and always dwell on my sickness, it actually harms my health."
The orange jasmine Auntie Liu grows
Auntie Liu's good mindset comes from her mother.A good character can be inherited, but a good character can also be cultivated。
A fellow patient she knows, an older sister, used to complain and suffer, but later faced things with strength. Over the years she has had three major surgeries, yet her mindset has only grown more relaxed, and she lives her days cheerfully. Perhaps, by spending more time with optimistic, open-hearted people and more time in the company of flowers and plants, we can all become more and more optimistic, with better and better mindsets.
Auntie Liu grows
calendulas
Because of her devotion to flowers and plants, a publisher approached Auntie Liu to write a book called "Livable Flowers and Plants." Two years later, Auntie Liu developed glaucoma and rarely wrote again, butshe felt heaven had been very kind to her, giving her the unexpected surprise of publishing a book。
The freesias Auntie Liu grows
For Auntie Liu, her days are precious and happy. May Auntie Liu, in the company of flowers and plants, enjoy good health and longevity and be happy every day!
The kalanchoe Auntie Liu grows
May every one of us learn from Auntie Liu's cheerful, open-hearted mindset, live happily, and cherish every day.
The tulips Auntie Liu grew
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