Molly Ivins

/ Tracy Abell

I’m crying. I can’t imagine slogging along through this lifetime without Molly Ivins making me laugh and think and try to be a better person. I was bottomed out after the 2004 election but she wrote a column about not giving up. She encouraged us to each go out and create a piece of beauty in the world. A little garden plot, perhaps. And that’s what I did that next spring, planting more flowers and adding colors and textures to my garden.

I’ve already posted this photo taken last summer. It was one of those magical summer days that will always be remembered. As my mate and I basked in the glory of all those flowers, I teared up remembering Molly’s suggestion. And I felt proud to have created my own little chunk of beauty.

This spring, and forever after, my garden will bloom in Molly’s honor.

35 thoughts on “Molly Ivins”

  1. Your flower garden is beautiful — a perfect tribute to a woman who left the world a better place. I’m sad, too, but your story reminds me that beautiful people have a way of living on, despite their physical deaths.
    Thank God, you didn’t plant any “shrubs.” (Didn’t you love that she was the first to call Bush by that name?)

    Like

  2. Your flower garden is beautiful — a perfect tribute to a woman who left the world a better place. I’m sad, too, but your story reminds me that beautiful people have a way of living on, despite their physical deaths.
    Thank God, you didn’t plant any “shrubs.” (Didn’t you love that she was the first to call Bush by that name?)

    Like

  3. Your flower garden is beautiful — a perfect tribute to a woman who left the world a better place. I’m sad, too, but your story reminds me that beautiful people have a way of living on, despite their physical deaths.
    Thank God, you didn’t plant any “shrubs.” (Didn’t you love that she was the first to call Bush by that name?)

    Like

  4. Your flower garden is beautiful — a perfect tribute to a woman who left the world a better place. I’m sad, too, but your story reminds me that beautiful people have a way of living on, despite their physical deaths.

    Thank God, you didn’t plant any “shrubs.” (Didn’t you love that she was the first to call Bush by that name?)

    Like

  5. I just read her obit in the Star-Telegram and came back to post a little part of it:
    In recent weeks, she had suspended her twice-weekly syndicated column, allowing guest writers to use the space while she underwent further treatment. She made a brief return to writing in mid-January, urging readers to resist President Bush’s plan to increase the number of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq. She likened her call to an old-fashioned “newspaper crusade.”
    “We are the people who run this country,” Ms Ivins said in the column published in the Jan. 14 edition of the Star-Telegram. “We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.
    “Raise hell,” she continued. “Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and are trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge.”
    And so we shall… 🙂

    Like

  6. I just read her obit in the Star-Telegram and came back to post a little part of it:
    In recent weeks, she had suspended her twice-weekly syndicated column, allowing guest writers to use the space while she underwent further treatment. She made a brief return to writing in mid-January, urging readers to resist President Bush’s plan to increase the number of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq. She likened her call to an old-fashioned “newspaper crusade.”
    “We are the people who run this country,” Ms Ivins said in the column published in the Jan. 14 edition of the Star-Telegram. “We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.
    “Raise hell,” she continued. “Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and are trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge.”
    And so we shall… 🙂

    Like

    • Yep, I read that column when it came out, not knowing it was one of the last I’d have the pleasure of reading. She inspired me to work for a better world and it scares me to know that voice is gone.

      Like

  7. I just read her obit in the Star-Telegram and came back to post a little part of it:
    In recent weeks, she had suspended her twice-weekly syndicated column, allowing guest writers to use the space while she underwent further treatment. She made a brief return to writing in mid-January, urging readers to resist President Bush’s plan to increase the number of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq. She likened her call to an old-fashioned “newspaper crusade.”
    “We are the people who run this country,” Ms Ivins said in the column published in the Jan. 14 edition of the Star-Telegram. “We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.
    “Raise hell,” she continued. “Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and are trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge.”
    And so we shall… 🙂

    Like

  8. I just read her obit in the Star-Telegram and came back to post a little part of it:

    In recent weeks, she had suspended her twice-weekly syndicated column, allowing guest writers to use the space while she underwent further treatment. She made a brief return to writing in mid-January, urging readers to resist President Bush’s plan to increase the number of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq. She likened her call to an old-fashioned “newspaper crusade.”

    “We are the people who run this country,” Ms Ivins said in the column published in the Jan. 14 edition of the Star-Telegram. “We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.

    “Raise hell,” she continued. “Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and are trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge.”

    And so we shall… 🙂

    Like

  15. Yep, I read that column when it came out, not knowing it was one of the last I’d have the pleasure of reading. She inspired me to work for a better world and it scares me to know that voice is gone.

    Like

  16. Yep, I read that column when it came out, not knowing it was one of the last I’d have the pleasure of reading. She inspired me to work for a better world and it scares me to know that voice is gone.

    Like

Comments are closed.