My son Alex and I were headed home after running some errands. We were driving down a four lane road when I spotted the dusty purple flowers of wisteria, its vines covering several trees along the roadway.
“It’s wisteria season!” I cried pointing to the flowers that always reminded me of grape clusters. “Remember the arbor we had, out the kitchen door, that was covered with wisteria?”
“Sure.” Alex nodded.
“I remember when I was a kid it took over a few nearby trees and would cover the roof of the kitchen in the spring.” I started to laugh. “But then your Dad got it under control.” I smiled as I recalled the memory. “I used to love standing under that arbor holding them in my hand and taking in that fragrance.” I slowly began to inhale then stopped. “Wait, I can’t remember the smell.” I looked over at Alex feeling confused. “Seriously! I remember loving their smell and now I can’t recall it!”
Alex looked over at me. “You’re not seriously thinking of stopping on a four lane highway to go over and smell them, are you?”
I guess he’d noticed I’d been slowing the car down. “Well…”
Alex looked behind us to see if any cars were coming. “Are you crazy?”
“That’s what hazard lights are for.” I smiled but then realized a parking lot was just ahead of us. “Okay, fine. I’ll pull in over there.”
I pulled up to the curb, put the car in park, but left the motor running and my driver’s side door open as I went over to the fence line where the wisteria was hanging.
Reaching over I grabbed one of the clusters of flowers and inhaled deeply. “Oh there it is!” I cried as I looked back at the car. “It’s like my whole springtime childhood is flashing back!” I took a few more seconds to enjoy their fragrance before snapping off the cluster and bringing it back to the car.
“Here.” I said handing it to Alex as I began to drive again. “It reminds me a little bit of lily of the valley.” I looked over at him. “What do you think?”
Alex held it up to his nose. “Okay, now I remember it.” He looked over at me. “But I have no idea what lily of the valley smells like so I can’t help you there.” He pushed the button to open his window.
“What are you doing?” I said as I caught his arm that was ready to toss the flowers out the window.”
“Oh, you’re keeping it?”
“Of course! I’m going to put it in a little vase so I can enjoy it for a few more days.”
We’d pulled into the driveway when I saw my husband Steven climbing out of his truck.
“Hey!” I called as he stopped and waited for me to catch up with him. I was holding the wisteria in my hand. “Look what I found! Remember the arbor you built for our wisteria?”
Steven laughed. “I sure do! I battled that vine for over twenty years!”
“But it was beautiful!” I cried. “And the smell!” I held it up for him to smell.
He turned around and started walking to the house. “Nope. I’m not planting wisteria in this yard.”
“Oh, come on!” I looked over at Alex. “How does everyone know what I’m going to say before I even say it!”
Alex came over and patted me on my shoulder. “What can I say.” He shrugged his shoulders and started to laugh. “You’re very predictable.”
Slice of Life 