Falling in Love Rose
When I think about a pleasant moment from the past, it makes me consider similar episodes racing before me in the present. Did I realize it then? Often not so much - I was just taking that for granted. Sassy used to race out the front door, run part way up the sidewalk, turn around, and race back to start her morning walk. Now she walks one block and sits down, looking at me like, "That's it for me."
I look at each segment of the day (morning, afternoon, evening) to think about what needs to be done. My peers are retiring, and I think, "And miss all this fun?" Morning begins with most of the personal email I get during the day. It is also the time I get more writing done or clear up grading requirements. One class just ended, so this week includes 96 individual grades, but also a lot of personal responses. "What other classes do you teach?" is my favorite. Years ago, one staffer said to me, "Nurses are a pain." I was teaching a class of nurses; they got out paper and pen - "What are the other classes you teach?" That was not painful. I wondered about his attitude. By vocations, nurses have been the best students.
The worst is often the best. The worst experience can be the biggest victory later on. The worst days the most beautiful. My mother had a lot of challenges as her health declined, but we had so many unique experiences with her. One was her not wanting me to take the trouble of making de-caff at night. She argued against me about it. I said, "I am making it, so you might as well have some." She lived upstairs in New Ulm, at first. One night she bellowed from the top of her stairs, "WHERE'S MY COFFEE?!" Mrs. Ichabod and I had a big laugh, and I made the coffee.
Everyone has those Kodak smartphone moments, which are great to preserve. However, some others are often the ones we cannot forget, when the best in life distilled for a few moments. The words are there, images, fragrances, and emotions.
Clethra is the shrub I bought and neglected in the back yard - two of them! Almost Eden looked for it, and then I read about it by accident. I did not know what the big deal was. An article said someone was looking for the hidden Clethra and found it, being surrounded by butterflies driven crazy by the fragrance.
That moved me to move the overwhelmed shrubs to the front yard. From that time on the sweet cinnamon fragrance would drift by with the breeze, long after it had flowered.
