Tulips

I have always loved tulips. When I was a young girl living home with my family, I planted hundreds of red and yellow tulip bulbs under our plum tree. Each year I loved when the catalog of tulips from Holland came in the mail. I would sit for hours, pouring over each page, taking the time to select just the right tulips for our area. I would have to plant many new bulbs each year as before the first frost, the squirrels would often dig up my prized possessions. I loved waiting for them to pop through the soil and then slowly and steadily reach for the sun. It was very sad when my parents sold our home after we all grew up and moved away. I often thought about my tulips under our plum tree and wondered if the new owners ever realized their beauty as I did.

I am in New Jersey, where I grew up, visiting my mother for her birthday this weekend. I snapped this picture of the tulips growing outside of my mom's assisted living facility. Living in Florida, the only tulips I see are in the flower buckets at the grocery store. I can't begin to explain how I felt when I saw these tulips today. While I love living in Florida, there are some things remembered from days gone by that just cannot be replaced. The lilacs, the daffodils, the buds on the trees, there is nothing like the renewal of Spring.