I didn’t use force, Your Honor, honest!

Last spring, I bought some “forced” flowering plants in little pots–a hyacinth and some mini-daffodils. When they died back, I intended to plant the bulbs out in my garden–but I never got around to it.

A few weeks ago, I was amazed to find that the hyacinth was sending up a shoot. It was sitting on a dim, low shelf in the laundry room, and the soil was dust-dry. It hadn’t had a drop of water in months, and the only reason I noticed it at all was because the bunny knocked some things over on that shelf.

So, I started watering the shoot and put the pot out on a sunny windowsill. The cats knocked it all over the floor at least three times. Each time I carefully collected the potting soil and replaced it and the bulb in the pot (and yelled at the cats).

Despite these adversities, the hyacinth bloomed anyway. Here it is, on January 23rd. It wasn’t “forced”–in fact, it had every possible discouragement! It’s a little scruffier than I’d like, but it probably could have used some fertilizer. It smells wonderful.

Maybe this little hyacinth is trying to send a message to all of us who are going through rough times, or struggling to achieve the impossible: “Don’t give up. Ever.”

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