EARLY BLOOM

My son Alex and I were headed out for a neighborhood walk when we walked past our lilac bush at the end of the driveway.

“Oh, no!” I stopped to look at one of the branches. “This can’t be good.” I was pointing to a tiny purple bloom. “This definitely shouldn’t be happening in November.”

Alex looked over at it. “I guess with all the warm weather we had it got confused.”

I began walking around the bush to see if there were any other flowers. “Oh, man. Here’s another one!” I called from the other side of the bush.

Alex walked over to me. “It’s just those two and they’re both tiny.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”

I looked over at him and shook my head. “It’s like you’ve never met me.”

Alex looked confused. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

“Of course I’m going to worry about it.” We got back on the sidewalk and started our walk as I began ticking off all the potential problems this could mean. “What if it’s really bad for the plant? What if it means less blooms in the spring? What if there’s nothing I can do to stop it? What if this means I’m going to lose the bush?” I looked over at Alex. “You know how much I love that lilac bush!”

Alex started to laugh. “I know you do and you’re right. I don’t know what was I thinking? You’re going to worry about that lilac bush until next spring aren’t you?”

I nodded my head. “Of course I am. That’s what I do. I worry.”

“About everything.” Alex added.

“Exactly.”

Alex shook his head. “You know worrying about everything isn’t good for you.”

I sighed. “I know. But I really can’t help it.”

After we’d walked in silence for a while Alex looked over at me. “What are you thinking about now?”

“Remember last spring we kept seeing the hummingbirds flying in and out of it?”

“In and out of what?”

“The lilac bush!”

“Oh. Okay we’re still on that one.” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I think I remember you saying something about that.”

“I was hoping they were going to build their nest in it.” We were coming around to our street again. “I checked almost every day to see if they started one.”

Alex nodded his head in agreement. “Okay, now I remember. You were giving Dad and I daily updates at dinner.”

“So if this early bloom effects it in the spring where are the hummingbirds going to build their nest?” We were at the end of our driveway again.

Alex looked confused. “Maybe in the exact same place they built it last spring.”

I stopped for a moment and looked at him. “Oh, yeah.” I shook my head. “That sounds reasonable.”

Alex patted me on the shoulder. “I’m telling you you worry too much.”

“You know, you’re right.” I reached over and pulled the branch with the tiny lilac flower closer to me. “Maybe instead of worrying about next spring I’ll just enjoy the sneak peek it’s giving me now.”