My lilac bush tonight - that is snow. SNOW. I just covered it with a tarp and hope it won't be crushed and that it won't freeze.
My lilac bush yesterday. So full of promise...I will post more photos on my photo blog in case anyone is interested in my horticultural woes.
Let me give some perspective on why this stuff is so thrilling to me. As most of you know, at about 4 and a half years of sobriety, I had a "meltdown". I lost everything - but not my sobriety, so it really was OK. I "lived around" during the following 5 years. I never stayed anywhere longer than 6 months. I even traveled about Canada from Abbotsford BC to a small town in Alberta and another small town in Saskatchewan- in my 1979 Audi, with a cat carrier containing my cat and her litter box in the back seat. I actually had a hanging plant in that car for a while. Eccentric? Moi? (I use the french because I was, after all, amoung francophones in Canada.) (another paranthetical here... this is why I always use American English now - the spelling of "amoung" with the "u" above was deliberate) Oh, but I digresss.....
After a few years of this life, I yearned to own a home and know where I was when I woke up in the morning without thinking. I wanted to be able to find the bathroom without a light. AND, I wanted to plant tulips in the ground in the fall and be still there in the spring to see them pop up through the ground.
So I am now approaching 5 years in this house. I have never lived anywhere this long - not since I was a child. I have planted tulips and watched them come up 5 times now. I planted this lilac bush last spring and was delighted to see it thrive in my yard. I love lilacs.
And you know what? I could leave this house today if God decided to plant me somewhere else... But I do like the tulips and lilacs.
7 comments:
Thanks for sharing such a beautiful story Mary Christine. Lilacs are my all time favorite. Our house was flanked with huge rows of lilacs where I grew up and when I owned my first house I planted lilacs right away. Unfortunately I didn't get to see them bloom that year. I drove back by after I sold it and the new owner had mowed them down.
I'm still sad about that.
I hope yours survived the late snowfall.
I think its great that you had a hanging plant in your house on wheels aka your car.
You sound peaceful today.
It absolutely thrills me that you can find the bathroom in the dark. One of the perks of being sober.
Thanques for the bit about American English vs The Queen's English. I speak and write both too but continue to use both.
How wonderful that you've put down roots, and lilacs & tulips! I hope your lilac survives the cold. Thank you for sharing your wandering story!
Ohhhh, pray for the lilac bush . . .
That thought when waking up is killer, literally, it does kill people of our kind. I use to wake up at night and bang my head on the wall -- all that poison in floating around.
Congrats on your upcoming 5 years living in your home. It is wonderful that you have put plant life around you.
I can relate with setting roots... when we were kids we moved evey 6 months bc mom like to change the scenery
then in my group home days I would get kicked out and ws in 17 placemnts by the time I was 14 an I was in since I was 11
then even in sobriety and living on my own I moved alot out of habbit???
before I met hubby, I found a nice neighborhood and got a little duplex and me and Bayleigh and Max and pickely and Daisy lived there for 4 years, I planted alot there too... and a lilac bush now I thnk about it but for me that was longest place I had lived, and now I live with hubby going on 3 yrs and we plan to be here for a while...
its nice to have roots... think I rambled
I do understand the thrill you are speaking of. I am pleased with the idea that I have lived in the same place for 5 years now. I like the tulips as well and hopefully they will start blooming soon. We have put nothing but perenials in our garden spot so they can come back every year. I think that your lillac bush will survive they are very hearty.
FAEA
I'm wicked super friggin busy but I just wanted to say Happy Tuesday!
I see you,
JJ
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