The morning glory reminded me of my awful teacher, my late Mother and my best friend in school

Two days ago during my daily brisk walk I came across a beautiful bush of morning glory. I was reminded of a time long long ago (more than 45 years ago) when I was a 14 year old girl in lower secondary school. Our class teacher had ordered us to bring a bunch of flowers for the vase on the teacher's table everyday. Most of the girls in my class were from well to do families. They would buy flowers costing quite a lot when it came to their turn to fill the vase. It became almost like a competition of who brought the nicest flowers. I definitely was not looking forward for my turn. I received 20 cents each day for my snacks in school from Mother and there was no way I could afford the money to buy flowers for the vase. I had planned for a few weeks. When it came to my turn I brought a pair of scissors in my schoolbag and cut a big bunch of morning glory from the fencing of the army depot on my way to school. I felt almost ashamed when I put the flowers into the vase and really ashamed when the teacher said "Who brought this? You should not bring wild flowers like this!" Now, I think she should be really really ashamed of herself, not me. Fortunately for me the awful teacher was transferred to another school soon after that and the tradition of bringing flowers for the vase stopped.

One thing I was very conscious of when I was young was how Mother had to struggle to manage the little money that Father gave her for household expenses. Sometimes she even pawned the precious little valuables she had kept for many years. I remember I normally did not use the 20 cents Mother gave me every day (unless I had to buy a pencil or an eraser or other stationaries). There were 2 reasons - I did not like the big crowd in the canteen during reccess and I wanted to save the money. When I saved enough, about 2 dollars, I would give the money back to Mother. She was not a demonstrative person, but everytime I gave her my savings I knew she was moved, although she would always advise me not to go hungry in school. Actually I had never gone hungry because my best friend used to share her imported biscuits with me. Incidentally she is still among one of my closest friends even now.