Making Room for the Things You Need

It's been at least twenty years since I first admired flowers planted near the base of a rural post box. The image is still sharp. It was a vibrant cluster of California Poppies and wildflowers near Karen Zumbach's place, just outside Livermore, California.

In all the time that has passed since then, I've wanted to plant flowers like that, too. Somehow, there's always been a reason I didn't get it done: I was too busy, too tired, to occupied with things that "needed" my attention.

This past fall, as I was planting bulbs over the graves of kitties we had lost, I knew it was time for me to make room for something I needed, something I had been meaning to do for a long time.

The big bags of bargain bulbs -- Daffodils and Tulips -- were on sale at Fred Meyer as well as bulb fertilizer and bone meal. I stocked up. Lorenzo helped me with the planting, as did his son, Eric. Together, we talked and laughed as we committed bulbs and fertilizer and bone meal to patches of earth around the ranch house, along the driveway, and by the mailbox.

There is something deeply spiritual in the promise of a bulb: the planting, the waiting, the soil being pushed aside by the first leaves, the appearance of buds.

For the last two weeks, all sorts of golden Daffodils have delighted me. As of today, Lorenzo's favorites, the Tulips, are coming on strong.

Why did I wait so long to make something I valued, something I truly wanted and needed, happen? I'm not sure, but I do know that it feels good to have made room for this burst of color near my post box. Every time I pass by, these gorgeous blossoms make me smile. I'll bet I'm not alone.

Thanks go to Karen Zumbach, an extraordinary woman and rancher whose beautiful post box flowers inspired me all those years ago.