27 tulips

bird and i met up yesterday for some farm business.
then some dad business. 
his cardiologist said "you're doing great for 62!"
he's only off by .... 21 years. 
so he's doing great. 

we dined.  
dined?
can you call it dining when it's at the local mom and pop?
aren't you just eatin'?


next stop.. a trip to the farm.
it was a slippery, slidey, ooey gooey trip.
we  have been blessed with rain.
i know...wow right?
pops said he had gotten an inch!
but it kept raining.
so, even though we planned to bake cookies,
do some cleaning, etc.
we didn't.
knowing the roads were only getting worse 
and my little pony-car has no weight, 
lingering didn't happen on the farm.
we did the necessities, bills, mail,
kitchen cleaned and a pot roast in oven.

however, we did take a few minutes to gaze 
out the windows at the glorious scenes.
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN.
yeah GOD!!!
out the front window where mom always
has spring bloomers we noticed the flowers
were missing. 
dad assured us before the rain and wind,
he had tulips. 
lots
in fact...there were 27.
that makes me smile.
he counted them.

***
we cut some of moms lilacs and headed back to town
with a planned stop at the cemetery.
it was drizzly, so we stayed out of our cars only long 
enough to stuff the lilac branches in the ground,
and chat a bit. 
all the while standing on the granite slab, that is the base
for their headstone. 

then bird wondered where a cousins grave was.
so we hopped in her car and perused the cemetery.
found the cousin and other relatives
plus lots of people from our childhood years.
we spent nearly an hour just driving around there.

yes i know. 
may seem odd to you.
but ...well..
it wasn't to us.
when she dropped me back at my car we giggled 
about our 'drive.'
bird said " i guess as you get older your idea of fun changes."

regardless....
it was nice to be together. 
it was also nice because mom's sister had put some 
purple tulips in the ground on moms grave. 
made bird and i feel good. 
it was cheerful to see these reminders of 
our mom...the proverbial flower lady.

i imagine those 27 tulips did the same thing for pops.
a sweet reminder of the fun-loving-flower-girl he married.