Sunday, March 2, 2014

A nice surprise



Sometimes it's the small surprises that mean the most, especially when the timing is nearly immaculate.  A west wind is blowing through this monochromatic day.  Outside, I couldn't decide if the world was brown or grey.  All I knew was that I was on poop patrol in the little fenced area behind the pool where Baylee and Emerald perform "number two" with amazing frequency.  (It appears that this activity was wordlessly and unceremoniously vested to me upon retirement.)

I was nearly finished with the dirty little job when I caught a flash of color out of the corner of my eye.  My first thought was that it was a paper wrapper or some other piece of trash that had blown into the yard outside the fenced area I was working in.  But when I focused in on it, I was surprised to see four pretty little purple flowers.  I have no idea what kind they are or why they decided to bless me with their presence today, but the experience had the feeling of one of those later day attempts at film noir that intentionally places an object of bright color in the middle of the bleak and dreary scene.  A "Schindler's List" kind of moment.

I'm grateful for the moment and I'm grateful for those four little purple flowers.  I don't think they're worried that the weather is going to turn ugly soon and that the temperatures will drop.  They couldn't care less about things like snow and sleet or celsius and fahrenheit.  They won't have to rush out for a cartload of milk and bread to munch on while they wait for the latest word on the school and courthouse closings.

I get the feeling that they don't get hung up on things like that, temporal things, and that they're here for their own sake and for whatever pleasure I or anyone else can derive from their visit.  They're here now, they may or may not be here later, and they certainly can return another day, if they so choose.

Spunky little flowers, they are, that seem to be comfortable in their skins and in control of their lives.  I like their attitude.

Plus I can't get over the fact that if I hadn't decided to venture out to a yard full of dead brown grass beneath gathering dark clouds being shoved around by a bullying wind... to pick up dog poop no less... I would have totally missed them.

A very nice surprise, indeed!

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