Spring in a new house means flowers pop up when you didn't even know they were there! When the first little green leaves sprouted up I thought they looked a little like the purple hyacinths we had at my house growing up. They are hyacinths, but pink ones! We have three little patches in the yard. As each patch bloomed I thought about the older couple, now deceased, who owned this house before us. We've been getting to know them by what they left behind. We bought the house from their daughter who told us she was raised in the house so they must have been here a long time.
Blooming hyacinths mean they planted bulbs some years ago. Did they plant them together? Did they anticipate enjoying them for many years to come? Or did her frail knees shake when she bent down with the shovel, hoping she'd enjoy them for a few more springs?
Did he stop at the neighborhood garage sales, picking up old tools and knick-knacks, hoping to use them for something someday? Did he buy them just like the older gentlemen who stopped at our house to buy the rusty pipe wrenches and containers of nails we offered at our own yard sale? Two sheds full. Did he realize the day to use those treasures might not come?
When I sit down to sew I think about her, all the nails in a board on the wall could have only meant one thing: thread. Lots of it. Did she fix pants for her boys just like I am? Did she sew the curtains we tore down when we moved in? Did she collect fabric to use someday and realize it was getting too late to use it all?
Were they excited about their new brown sculpted carpet? Just like we're excited for our new carpet, which means tearing out theirs? And patching their nails holes to paint, tossing the old dishwasher for a new one, selling the rusty shed treasures at a yard sale and even tearing down a shed to make room for more grass.
We'll enjoy the hyacinths every spring we're in this house and I'll think about ones who planted them.
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