The best presence under the tree

I received an early Christmas gift this year. Truth is: All in this great industry received a special present, even if the package came to me. OK, technically, it wasn't a package, but an e-mail, the subject line of which said, simply, "re: Just checking in." You see, a few days prior, I had sent "Just checking in" to my friend, the great Jenny Gunderson.

As you might recall, Jenny was one of our honorees during the initial Horticultural Industries Leadership Awards presentation in July (see related story on p. 43). We noted in an August article that her selection was a "no brainer," given that she had rallied the customer base at her garden center, My Garden Nursery, and the citizens of her town, Mill Creek, Wash., to raise tens of thousands of dollars for research on both Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer.

We also noted that the causes were near and dear to Jenny's heart—both her parents died of Alzheimer's disease, and she herself is a breast cancer survivor. Oh, and that just-mentioned heart? As big as it is, it isn't very healthy; in fact, it kept her from attending the presentation. Days before the event, she was rushed to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and had to undergo emergency surgery to insert a defibrillator.
 

Rough stuff, no? Well, maybe not so much. Here's what Jenny e-mailed to me a few weeks ago:

What you wrote about me was humbling and seemed so dramatic compared to how I feel. I think people see me and think "that can't be the girl in the article." I look just like the picture, a healthy working woman in her early '50s. When I see people who haven't seen me in while, like since I was bald [because of the breast cancer treatment], they say Jenny you look awesome!

It is weird to be told by doctors that I have all these problems and to have a heart defibrillator and a phone machine at the store that asks me health questions every week and sends the records from my implant to my doctor every week—when I really feel good ... Actually, I am no different than all the other men and women out there. I hear so many stories of people raising money for different causes, and I get ideas from [them]. Many other nurseries have raised more than us. You were too kind to me.
 

Truth be told... We probably weren't kind enough. In an era when it's far too easy to complain, Jenny has shown us why we shouldn't. And because of her and her example, we all have two more gifts under the tree this holiday season.

Actually, two of the best, I would suggest.
 

yyoungblood@gie.net