The lilacs are blooming...

We have a big lilac bush in the backyard, which has only bloomed twice since we moved here. The lilac bush had been planted by the previous owners, but I didn't know what it was till it started blooming the first time, which was about five years ago. Since then, just lots of green leaves with no blooms.... until last week when I noticed the purple buds bursting out all over, along with a contingent of happy little bees hovering around the flowers.

I have a soft spot for lilacs because my father had dozens of lilac bushes growing in our backyard when I was a kid. I know I've typed this before, but it bears repeating.... my dad used to cut the lilac blooms and bring them to the nuns at my school, and they would put them in vases and place them around the altars in the church. When I went to Mass on Sundays, I would look around at all the purple lilacs and feel a certain sense of pride because I knew that daddy's lilacs were all over the church. The smell of lilacs is pretty enough, but when paired with burning candles and incense, the resulting aroma is what I always thought heaven would smell like.

So last week's discovery of the blooming lilacs was truly a nice surprise. My dad has been in my mind a lot lately... his birthday was last week (he would have been 97); I recently found a painting of Saint Theresa in an antique shop and couldn't resist buying it because she was daddy's favorite saint; I filled up a glass Christmas ornament with bits and pieces of letters that my dad wrote to me over the years; and I just ordered a Saint Theresa medal for myself, to replace the one that daddy gave me many years ago. With all of that going on, plus the lilacs.... I stood out there in the yard the other day and looked at those purple blooms and I just knew that they were a sign from daddy... he's happy that I have the Saint Theresa painting in my sitting room, and he's happy that I'm finally replacing that lost medal.

I know that all of the above sounds trite and somewhat ridiculous, and I'm putting a lot of stock into one blooming lilac bush, but.... it's what I believe, and that's good enough for me.