Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Lilac Time


One of the most magical times of the year for me is when the lilacs bloom and I get to open all the windows and let that exquisitely fresh spring air in. Now is that time. There’s something sacred about it, and even more so when lilac time coincides with Mother’s Day.

I remember handing my mother a fistful of dandelions for Mother's Day when I was really little. I hadn’t yet learned to pick the stems, so they were just the heads. They were crumpled and warm from being smashed in my pocket, but my mother exclaimed over how beautiful they were and carefully floated the whole brownish mess in a jelly jar.

But when I got older, my friends and I would wander the neighborhood looking for flowers to pick for our moms for Mother’s Day. We weren’t supposed to pick them from people’s gardens, but anything growing on a tree or shrub—especially if it happened to overhang a sidewalk or an alley—was a freebie, at least in Kid World. So finding lilacs was like finding treasure.

And they’re still a treasure. There’s something about a vase full of frothy lilacs that would make my heart swoon even if they didn’t make the house smell like heaven.

Happy Mother’s Day to my friends, who, treasures that you are, manage to find ways to let your creative brilliance out even after putting your families’ needs first. May this day be about treasuring you.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of
things other kids experienced. None of us have ever
been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other’s
property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault. ~Anonymous, from email forward titled “Mean Moms”

5 comments:

  1. Hi Tammy! I love lilacs, too, but for some reason I don't see a lot where we live. Maybe certain small towns and/or states have more of them? As you know, I'm not savvy in the "flower world"!
    I, too, brought dandelions to my mom....and my sons did the same for me! I think it's universal!
    And yes, thank goodness our moms were "mean" and kept us out of trouble! :)

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  2. Lovely post...I do love lilacs and finally have a bush of my own. Our lilacs were lovely but have come and gone for this year!

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  3. Thanks Becky and Bookie!! The common kind (vulgaris) gets mildew here and tends to take over people's yards. I have some different varieties (patula and meyeri, if anyone cares!) that bloom kind of late...although the picture on the right was taken a week or two ago and has now quit blooming. Thanks for stopping by, Bookie!!!

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  4. I also love lilacs. They smell so delicious. Wish the blooms lasted all summer!

    Pat
    www.critteralley.blogspot.com

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  5. I'm with you, Pat. They just don't last. There's one that supposedly reblooms over summer, but I'd like to hear from someone who's actually owned one before I'd try it.

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