Every summer the hydrangeas do whatever they want.
Sometimes they are blue, or white, purple or this divine red-wine coloured bloom. I never know what I'm going to get and it's always a delight. These lovely ones are growing next to the steps into the Writing Place, providing such a cheery welcome to visitors this summer season.
We always had hydrangeas growing around our homes when I was growing up, probably because Mom did most of the gardening and she loved them.
I often think the New Year is a bit like this. Despite best laid plans and resolutions, the year will do whatever it will do, and sometimes we have no control over that. Hopefully the best parts will bloom and thrive, full of colour, richness, joy, and when the challenges come, we can draw upon our strengths and resources to move on through.
When it comes to our writing, we may think, 'This is the year I'll write that book!' What a grand ambition, creative time well spent, but then as the year progresses, our best intentions tend to fizzle as life takes over, as it inevitably does, and then we have that sense of non-completion, a wish unfulfilled.
Would it be better to say, 'This year I will start that book'? Little steps, perhaps an hour a day, or two hours a week, a plan that will weather the peaks and troughs of evey day life. Little, consistent steps, lead to great progress and a sense of accomplishment.
I am planning to write this year, a gift I've been meaning to give myself for some time now. My plan is to start with a regular, daily writing time, because this is what I need to get my work under way. I am not making any new year resolutions about it either. I will go with it, nurture it, let it set the pace without the pressure of making good on any promises.
As Forrest Gump says in the 1994 film of the same name, 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get', I'll substitute 'hydrangeas' for 'chocolate', and this year, I'll do my best to enjoy whatever that may be.