Saturday, June 11, 2022

While the Lilacs Last

I was going through old blog-entries and found in one this photograph, from May of 2011. It shows my First Four taking advantage of the spring air coming through the screen door of our former house. Eleven years ago, I had no foster-cats, and this quartet was still with me; even Tungsten had almost three years left to her. They loved the fragrances to be smelled, especially those of the blooming bushes and trees, such as the lilacs.

I was remarking to myself just this week that the lilacs’ flowers seem to be lasting longer this spring than in previous years, though this might be an illusion due to a later blooming. Their aroma is my favourite of the season, and I regret when it disappears. However long they thrive, it is nonetheless the way of things that they will pass, and other flowers take their places.

Each blossom has its time, and each gives way to its successor; if the season lingered and the first had remained, those flowers that come after would not have sweetened the air in their own fashion. I may wish for the lilacs to remain, and live forever in their spring, but an infinitely wiser mind than mine has devised that it be otherwise. The best – and perhaps the wisest – that I myself can devise is that I enjoy their scent, while the lilacs last.

14 comments:

  1. That is a sweet flashback. I love the smell of lilacs too. Ours went by about 2 weeks ago.

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  2. A good and satisfying way to think and live. I have come to similar conclusions.

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  3. Our lilacs are long gone...and now we are seeing the last of the irises and the poppies are going for it. The daisies will be next, I think.

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  4. What an insightful post. As you noted, nothing stays the same. Things constantly change. But with change comes growth and new experiences from which we will hopefully learn.

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  5. I I believe for me, that knowing things have a short season, I appreciate them all the more at the time. Wonderful that you're able to be home right now and enjoy the fragrance of the lilacs that are still blooming and look back through your life with your wonderful pets.

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  6. That's a lovely memory of your First Four. Our lilacs didn't seem to last as long as usual this year, though perhaps that my perception.

    One of my all-time favourite quotes is "Everything comes to pass, nothing comes to stay" by Matthew Flickstein. It's a truth of life, whether it be for lilacs, cats, or for ourselves. I think it's part of the human Journey, to learn to accept the transience of life rather than to struggle against its flow.

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  7. Terrific photo!
    I can almost smell the lilacs.

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  8. I love the photo of the Fab Four! It's clear they enjoyed their whiffies from the outdoors.
    I like the aroma from lilacs, but prefer the lighter scent of apple blossoms more.
    I should note, your post could be about cats too. They come and go in a shorter time than we would like. All we can do is appreciate the joy they bring us. And while they don't return, perhaps they do in the spirit of the cats who follow.

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  9. What a sweet photo! Yes, it's good to look at an ending of something as just the beginning of something else that may be just as good, or even better.

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  10. And enjoy the kitties, while we are sll together...

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  11. The blooms on the cat tree are very nice!

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  12. Yup, all we can do is enjoy things while they last.

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