Welcome Distraction 4/30/2023

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

The hedges and the honeysuckle are blooming. It seems to have happened all at once. One second there was not a hint of their fragrance in the air and the next thing I know, the highway and byways are littered with blossoms and the whole of the outdoors require only the slightest breeze to be intoxicatingly perfumed.  Those smells are one of my favorite things about this time of year.  Lots of folks like it because they know that summer is around the corner. I don’t particularly care for summer so that certainly isn’t why I enjoy it. We’re at that delicate point of the year that, for the most part, it’s not oppressively hot nor is it uncomfortably chilly.  I am trying to appreciate these little pleasures more this year.

I know my last few blogs have been, well, I don’t really want to call them heavy because I have tried to make them not so but if I’m honest, they were just that.  I wonder if you, my readers, are weary of reading about the issues going on in my life.  Speaking of, yes, the difficult decisions are still looming. And if I’m honest my family and I are a tad on the bewildered side.  It’s truly amazing just how physically wearying that mental strain can be. There have been days lately that my husband and I have to sit and wonder if we were both getting sick because these difficult times are sapping so much of our strength that we feel abnormally exhausted.  Y’all have probably been there at one time or another. Maybe it was a family member that was in a rough situation, and it so preoccupied your mind that day to day living was just autopilot. Or maybe something was going on at work that made it virtually impossible to focus on much else. I get it. You feel like you’re neglecting your family or friends or really anything that is significant because of those matters that weigh so heavily.

But then you’re outside and you’re graced with the fragrance of hedge blooms. They are obviously floral but not overpowering. They are delicate but strong. It is probably one of my favorite fragrances of all flowers.  Despite the business of my mind, it never ceases to wash over me with calm.  And these days, anything that isn’t chaotic or fraught with life-altering implications is certainly a welcome respite.  And all it takes is the mere sight of honeysuckle and no matter how stressed my mind may be, I am immediately taken back to childhood and pulling those blooms apart to taste the drop of nectar at the base of the flower.  I can’t help but wonder now if the bees were livid with the shenanigans of humans taking their honey making materials.  I would issue a formal apology but, they are bugs so, probably not.  Not that I’m anti-honey but I feel like the syrup varieties that we have are just as good and it doesn’t require any insect regurgitation so, there is that.  And wow, this topic has taken a turn.

While the morning that I am writing this came after an evening filled with questions and deliberations over all the decisions at hand, today started off with a mild reprise. I got to watch a game of kids ages 4 through 6 running after balls and swinging at pitches that had often already passed them.  I watched as a giblet of a little girl with blonde ringlets spilling from her batting helmet would swing at a pitch that passed her by a good 5 seconds before.  I watched my daughter put in commendable effort to field ground balls which is significant since anything other than running bases isn’t her cup of tea.  I also watched as one of her best friends that is on her team stood back from going after a hit to let my daughter field the ball and throw it to first.  It took everything in me to not go out there and pick up that adorable little specimen and squeeze the juice out of her. I also witnessed the unison groan of the entire crowd when a boy who played like he had been batting for the Yankees for a few years hit a line drive with the force of a small freight train right into the gut of a teeny, little fellow on the pitcher’s mound. We all worried together.  And we all laughed together when he finally stopped crying and announced he wanted to keep playing.

The weight of decisions and serious issues isn’t gone. It’s all still there and if I give it just the slightest opportunity with only a second or two of consideration it comes roaring back in all its ferocious intensity.  But there are beautiful flowers to smell. There are tiny teams swinging bats, running bases and making piles in the dirt at second base.  There are new calves in the local cattle herds and a new foal in the nearby horse pasture.  Everything is not heavy and serious. There is also the gift of blossom and birth.   There is the lighthearted play of children. And while serious decisions are important, there is also a world moving around us with beauty and peace if we just refuse to be overwhelmed and look.