Waiting for Tulips
Nettie Bozanich
 
I wouldn’t exactly call myself a patient person.  Patience is an art and I’m its student. 
 
I had a chance to practice this art with the tulips in our backyard this Spring.  The leaves sprouted and created a mass of deep and richly coloured foliage.  I would peak out of the window a couple of times a day waiting for the blooms.  Our neighbours’ tulips had bloomed; why were ours so slow? 
 
It took a few days but soon I saw hearty buds.  The next day those buds gave me a peak inside of the vibrant yellow to come.  And then finally – the tulips arrived!  What a lovely reward for my patience!
 
While gazing at the beautiful blossoms, I began to reflect on my simple experience.  I realized that while I was waiting for the tulips to bloom, I missed the experience of enjoying the green, smooth, strong leaves and the process of the blooming.  I was waiting only for the flower.  Life’s like that, I thought.  So often we wait for the bloom, the point of arrival and in turn we forget to enjoy the blossoming, the journey.
 
And I also realized that this blooming, this renewal is part of a cycle.  In another part of our yard, a beautiful tree has gnarled and died.  But it is in its death that life can begin.  Life’s like that, too, I thought, there must be dying and living, endings and beginnings.
 
Our tulips have bloomed.  It is a magnificent time of year.  But it is not just the blooms that are wonderful but the process, too.  And in that process I must accept that there will be dying.  It is a cycle.  It is nature’s renewal.

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