Tuesday, March 14, 2023

In Praise of Late Bloomers

 

A few weeks ago, I had breakfast with a friend whose balcony overlooks Mobile Bay. The sun was shining, the day warmer than usual, the cloudless sky a clear blue, and the bay water an intense blue glinting with diamonds of sunlight. Although it was hard to leave the pleasant scene, there were things to do, so I pulled myself away from the beauty of the morning and made my way toward town. As I passed the park along the bay, I caught my breath at the sight of a large flower bed near the road. Hundreds of red tulips were in full bloom in a stunningly glorious display. Although our weather had been unusually warm for several days, it was quite a surprise to see the riot of color. But errands called, so I made my way toward the bank. As I waited in the drive-through line, the loveliest music played on NPR: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 for Violin. The sight of the tulips and remembering the music carried me through the rest of the day and into the rest of the week.

When I rode by the park a week later, I was dismayed to find no blossoms in the large patch of tulips. A few days earlier, we experienced heavy rain and high winds. I suppose the downpour or the wind had stripped every petal and blown them away. The stems were a sad reminder of what had been so lovely only a few days earlier.

One day last week, I passed the same park again. Much to my delight, a single red blossom stood among the bare stems. One lone late bloomer. It didn’t have the mass of surrounding blooms from before, but something about the single tulip, one flower shining on its own, seemed almost more impressive than the luxuriant mass of earlier blooms. So here’s to late bloomers, flowers, or people. What a joy you are!