Blooming in Lockdown

On a socially-distant walk over the weekend, my husband pointed out to my 2-year-old daughter and me a neighbor’s beautiful flowers. Luscious, abundant pink blossoms in full bloom. “Pretty flowers!” my daughter said. “So pretty,” I agreed. Just another small teaching moment with a toddler who soaks in everything.
Lying in bed a few nights later, I thought about those flowers again and it suddenly reminded me of my “word of the year.”
Isn’t it true that strangest things can remind of us past intentions, goals, and dreams? Sometimes the sharp smell of coffee takes me right back to my earliest days hanging out in coffee shops, where I was dedicated to reading one new play every day. That was a good goal—one well-suited to the time of COVID-19. How many new plays and playwrights could I have discovered if I’d read one new play for each day of the stay-at-home order?!
But at least half the fun of my play-a-day project was sitting in those cool coffee shops, sipping my macchiato, people watching, and wondering if I’d have an interesting conversation with an interesting stranger.
