Cliché or Not, Spring Brings Renewal – Reflections From the Kitchen Sink

I should have taken a before pic. Here in Kentucky, we’ve had a little break from the cold winter, and on this day three of 70ish temps, I felt the urge to clean out my flower pots. Much to my surprise, one of the pots had multiple sprouts popping up, and, you know me, my mind got to spinning.

It really is cliche: spring brings life…things don’t stay down forever…life will bloom again…blah blah blah. Don’t get me wrong. Those are all true statements. I guess it’s just as a person who’s had an extra dry season maybe I’m just not captivated by the warm fuzzy Ted Talk pep rally version of it. I’m more of a “let’s move along” kind of girl, I guess, which loops me back to my excitement about the lone flower pot in the back row of my hodge podge collection. 

Here’s the skinny version—

Crunchy yucky dead stems sprawled out in almost every pot…

So crunchy the majority of stems snapped off with little effort…

Except for one pot that had bulbs that didn’t produce during last year’s growing season…

Now you get it, right? 

The bulbs seemed to be lifeless. They were planted with care and encouraged for a whole season but didn’t show any signs of vitality. Holy cow. 

We came out of a semi-extreme winter weather event with ice and substantial snow to have a pseudo-spring a few days, and SURPRISE! Look what’s not dead! 

…and I’m not talking a little sprouting: we are in full growth mode! It’s crazy! 

I thought through the how and why of it. The bulbs that had been super productive at my friend’s house had been moved out of their comfort zone and had to accept their new position in order to come out into the world again. They had been so quiet they were even forgotten about. It was suspected they had just rotted, so no one even dug down to check on them. The pot was put in the back corner because the other pots had blossomed with strong, healthy, colorful, and full of life flowers, and you don’t leave a pot of dirt in the middle of all that beauty. No one even noticed the “empty” pot in the back. It sat quietly disguised by the flowers and foliage presumed superior. 

…but now…the “empty” pot is the one with the growth. It is outshining the others. The other pots had the quick and easy annuals. They truly are empty now that the dried leftovers have been removed. The lone collection of hearty stems and leaves sprouting are going to be standing alone for a while, and they are going to be long-lasting. 

That’s the growth I long for. That’s the impact I hope to make on my children. It is the legacy I hope to leave. Even when things looked hopeless…even when everything around me looked better than what I had going for me…even when I was pushed to the back of the world…there was hope. When the timing is right, the growth will come. We can’t give up on ourselves even if others do. 

Shew, that’s big stuff. 

Now I’m more ready for spring than I’ve ever been before. Coffee on the porch next to my flowers sounds pretty good to me.

…until next time…