Stop and Smell the Flowers

The nursing home below the hill has beautiful landscaping with seasonal blooms every year.  The staff carefully tends to them, plucking out dead petals and ensuring the mulch is full and in place.  The flowers pictured pop up at the beginning of every summer. They are my favorite.  Today on my morning walk I was feeling frustrated, depressed, angry and unmotivated.  Half way down the hill I got mad at MYSELF because before I left home,  I had decided to do the shorter route that keeps me above the hill, and my body automatically went down the longer path. Perhaps subconsciously I knew today was the day of the perfect blooms.  

My audiobook stopped playing and I to restart the app. I was cussing the technology when out of the corner of my eye, the bright flowers, waved at me.  I had been walking along distracted in my mind and I hadn't even noticed all the new blooms. Is this a sign that things are "returning to normal?" Last year during the lock-down, I took the time to notice my surroundings during my walks.  The chimpunks that ran in the area next to the high school, the bright colored corner  lending library, the sidewalk chalk drawing, the mural. I learned to appreciate walking outdoors and took notice of the creatures and flowers and landscaping. I looked forward to seeing what the woman around the corner had done in her floral garden and what new wildflowers were growing in "the plant lady's" yard. I sometimes wouldn't even wear headphones and just listened to the birds chirping in the morning and the laughter of the kids jumping on the trampoline in the afternoon. I  watched the progress on my neighbors do-it-yourself home improvement projects and was quite impressed by their new additions the porch that they built using Youtube. 

All at once I realized in recent weeks  I've been mindless walking the streets listening to audiobooks and planning what I had to do next. creating to-do lists in my mind, worrying,  planning, thinking, strategizing. What happened to my peace? How did I let it just slip away? Perhaps I just needed a reminder to stop and smell the roses, look at the daisies and enjoy the sunflowers. Maybe you did too, so this is your sign!