Is anybody else worried about the tulips? In our corner of Groton, we still have a wintry torte of 24 inches of hard-packed snow finished off with crunchy ice crystal and a fresh dusting on top of that. I started to wonder this week:  what will the tulips do? Spring, by the calendar, will be here soon. There will still be snow. I posed the question to my friend Virgina Wood. 

“They’ll wait,” she said. “They’ll arrive when the earth is warm enough.”

hmmm.  A cosmic, things happen in their own time. When the time is right.

Now that makes sense to me. How many expectant mothers have found themselves counting days past a due date, abundantly ready …. and waiting? Or the opposite of those babies who just could not wait and plunged into the world in the back of SUVs or cabs or police cruisers? 

In the past week, the woman who cuts my hair, Michelle Florence at Body, Mind, Spirit, gave birth to her second beautiful daughter. The last time I saw her, belly out to there and glowing in her exhaustion, she described her perfect plan for the baby’s arrival.  However, she did not end up at the quiet birthing center. Instead, it was a hospital birth. All is well; the baby is healthy and looks like Michelle in miniature. The universe had its own plans for baby Zinnia. (isn’t that the greatest name for a strong, vibrant mini-woman?) 

A second friend and co-conspirator on projects over the years, Amy Graver, told me that Rockport publishing had approached her to write a book, or two, on graphic design. The founder and brilliant light leading Elements Design and Marketing, Amy will have the opportunity to put her writing and design work together and as she says “leave her mark.” It all happened through a convergence of Amy’s consistently original work, good marketing, social media and a sprinkle of fairy dust. In other words, she wasn’t looking for a book contract but knew that some day she would like to write one.  To her surprise, the time was right.

I’m trusting the tulips to wait for the warming earth. I am still a bit concerned about the impetuous snow drops.

photo thanks to Art Campbell