I'm not much of a gardener. I love having beautiful flowers-but I don't have a good track record when it comes to making them grow.
A few months after our son left for the Middle East, my friend gifted me a box of tulip bulbs (郁金香球茎). She explained that these bulbs were put into the ground in the fall and lay sleeping all winter. They had all the nutrients they needed inside the bulb and would come out in the spring. ''When you see the leaves of the tiny flowers pushing toward the sun, you'll know that it's almost time for your son to come home. They'll give you what you need most.'' She walked me through the process of planting them. I thanked her — trying to show my gratitude for her gift.
It was a long winter — cold and dark. I endured both the weather and the loneliness and fear I felt with my son away. Dead leaves, frost and finally a heavy snow covered the area where I'd planted those flowers, and I soon forgot they were there.
Finally the weather began to warm. One day, as I walked down my front steps, I noticed an area of green. I bent down to inspect the situation more clearly and saw that those tulips had begun to grow, their tiny leaves forcing their way to the sun.
Day after day I noted the flowers' progress. And day after day, the time approached when my son would finally be home. Now with spring just around the corner, nothing could keep either of us from marching toward the light. Almost all of those bulbs bloomed. And with each brightly colored flower, I marked off one day closer to getting to hold my son in my arms again.
