Poof! Instant Beauty

Last night when I retired, the view from the kitchen window was mostly the red brink of the building across the parking lot. One lone naked tree stood guard, its gray branches lifted to heaven in prayer.

This morning just as the sun appears, I wander into the kitchen for a drink of water. Something is different. It is brighter in my kitchen, but the lights have not changed. I glance outside not at dull red brink, but at the naked tree gloriously transformed into bridal white from head to toe. Every inch of branch is covered by delicate white flowers nodding gaily in the slight morning breeze.

I hook Sugar to her leash and we investigate. Sugar snuffles excitedly around and around the trunk of the barely middle aged tree, licking petals that have floated down to the grassy ground beneath. On some level I know this change was not instantaneous. There must have been buds that I missed, some portent of internal activity, sap running amuck beneath layers of bark. It seems a miracle. One day bare branches, the next a plethora of white exploding into thin air.

It is something like that with children. One day my boys are surrounded by all the accouterments of childhood - acorn caps and sticks, rocks and pinecones, toy trucks and action figures. The next they are asking for car keys and dating! All along, internal changes. But to a parent reveling in the joy of hugging young children and joining in their play, the instant" poof!" of growing up comes so quickly, so unexpectedly.

Yet it is as glorious as the instant tree shimmering before me. Seeing a boy become a young man fills you with bright hope, lightens your day, draws you into the fervour of their springtime. I have been there with the older boys. Drew is taking me once again on this exciting adventure. He is patient with me - at the moment. I know the whirlwind will come. Bring it on! Let's whoop it up in a spring zephyr of exuberance. I could use this infusion of vitality.