Favorite Things 

 Depending on where in the world you are these past few weeks I'm sure this may or may not be true or remind you of something beautiful.  Where I am the most amazing fragrances has been lingering heavily in the air.  As I ran around town the other morning (allowing myself, begrudgingly, that once a week delight before I hop back on my bike and give my aching knee a break), the most heady, inviting, and perfect fragrance painted the air whichever way I chose to run.  Rows lined each street, and the color-purple, oh my! my favorite, was inescapable!

  Lilacs.  They are one of my favorites.  Everything about them; their color, their shape, the way they liven up your everyday average shrub, and their scent; oh my! can you say heaven?  

  Yes, I love everything about them. Here's a quick story that I'm always reminded of when lilac season comes knocking on my doorstep.

  I'm a saver, I'll start by saying that. I always have been and I'm alright to acknowledge that I believe I always will be. 

  After high school graduation I took a year off of "recognized and qualified" education and worked three different jobs; one super cool and trendy, one that stretched me as a person and taught me I was not meant for life in the fast lane of food services, and another that simply helped me watch my cash stash grow. 

  After agonizing over whether I did in fact have an adventurous side, I turned down an opportunity to move across this grand country to explore the mountains with one of my favorite friends.  Instead I ended up staying at home, not sure what my future would hold and definitely not ready to head off to school, though I was registered for the following fall and more than eager to educate my mind in the Canadian Rockies (but that's another story).

  I had a very diverse group of friends at that stage of life, and though that hasn't changed, the adventure that awaited me with these beautiful women definitely did!

  I boarded un avion months later and headed to a world my 18 year old mind was not quite prepared to tackle.

  It was more than I could absorb, more than I could process, more of a character builder and a time that has defined my character probably more deeply than I will ever know in this life.  It was FANTASTIC!!  But setting my feet on the European continent, and starting in Amsterdam was so overwhelmingly off my regular pace and out of this girls small town realm to embrace.

  Thankfully time changes us, grows us, and opens our eyes in ways that allow us to embrace everything that is beyond what we understand.

  Okay, getting carried away here.....I'll reel it back.

  Weeks later I found myself seeking out a home that we had stayed in weeks before.  The city was inexpensive, and if you've traveled through Europe with only the pack on your back and the shoes on your feet, you can understand that inexpensive is not easy to find.

  Well my travel buddy and I agreed we needed a break from the race from country to country, and what we needed above and beyond that was a home to stay in and food to stuff in our thinning frames; we needed the familiar and the comforting.

  We hopped off a train and sought the familiar pale face surrounded by long, dark, almost black hair.  We had stayed with her a month earlier, and though for the life of me I can't remember her name or see her face, I remember her and her family's hospitality with the utmost delight and admiration.

  We stayed in a main floor room during our second visit.  The room was light and airy; all white including the iron bed frame and accessories, and I want to remember the windows being large.  It was late spring and everything was lushly green and the air was warm; everything about that second visit was just the right medicine.

  We returned from a day of leisurely exploring, though my gal-pal would probably have a different tale to tell! and there on the pretty little iron table was a vase full of lilacs.  The daughter of our host had placed them there and the pleased glimmer in her eye spoke to her delight by my reaction.  The room was heavy with their scent and outside of the window and fencing off the yard from the street was the shrub that gave them life.  

  Ahhh, can you smell them.  So intoxicatingly inviting and bursting with the fragrance of promise.

  I know, I know....there I go again with the romanticizing.  And of a small, pale purple flower that lives for only a brief few weeks of the year.

   YEP!  I will romanticize that flower every time.  I will seek out that scent at the fragrance counter.  I will always buy the candle that reminds me of that time.  And the Lilac will always be one of my favorites and an easy, quick way to winning my heart!

  Did I mention they need to be purple to satisfy me?

  Ahh, memories, no one can take them.

  That perfect, beautiful, leafy flower has almost expired for the season.  They are drooping heavy on their branch and turning a sour shade of brown though they still leave their mark in the scented air.

  I get it, I know their season of life is coming to an end, that they are in the twilight of their short season to bloom.

  It's alright.  Because they will return, and I will remember again.  And every time I catch a scent in the air that hints at those most pretty blooms, I'm 18 again, sticking my nose deep into that vase of petals.

  They are one of my utmost favorite things.

  I don't take the most pretty pictures.  In fact, I suck at pictures completely; we can't have it all, right?  It's more the idea than the visual, my mind only needs the hint and I'm transported!

  

  There they are....so pretty, so fragile, soft and perfect!  Take a break from the race your life is to be thankful and remember the simple things you love!

  Happy Friday!