In a Hurry

 

I have mentioned before that on my way to and from town I pass a great chrysanthemum nursery.  This time of year, I always glance over to check for that first hint of color.  Usually, it’s the yellow that signals the beginning of the season, and the yellows are usually in the row closest to the road.  I think the owners told me once that they plan for the blooms to appear in order, so that the selling season is drawn out across several weeks.  At first it’s just a hint of color, as if the sun lightly brushed against the tops of a few plants on its way across the sky.  Then, before you have time to realize it, rows of jade green foliage are crowned with yellow, then gold, white, rust and red.  The farm is open for business and cars are pulling into the lot to transport pots of mums home.

Imagine my surprise one afternoon last week when I looked over and saw, in the very middle of the army of green, a lone burst of white blooms.  I have no idea why, but one lone pot of mums was blooming.  Before Labor Day!  I guess it just couldn’t wait any longer for fall.  There are renegades even in the plant world!

I saw a meme on facebook the other day about this being the weird season where bins of watermelons are displayed right next to the Halloween candy.  I joked that the Christmas decorations were right down the aisle and, sure enough, the next time I was in the store, there they were – snowmen and Santas facing off with grinning jack o’ lanterns and witches on their brooms.  Every year, the seasons overlap more and more, until I expect we will be hearing medleys of Frosty the Snowman, Over the River and Through the Woods, and Here Comes Peter Cottontail, while eating a box of Valentine candy.

In my kingdom, such things do not happen.  Admittedly, my kingdom is very small – just 130 acres – and my rules only apply to one house.  But fall decorations do not appear until after Labor Day, Christmas decorations are not brought out until after Thanksgiving, the tree goes up the second week of December and does not come down until after Epiphany.  I don’t have control over much, but I can make the rules at my own house!  I noticed today that the pot of white chrysanthemums has been taken – I’ll bet whoever got it puts up their Christmas tree right after Halloween!  The rest of the pots are behaving with proper decorum – just a hint of color is showing on top of the shiny dark green foliage and I expect they will burst into color right at the beginning of fall.

We always seem to be impatient.  We are understandably eager for spring, especially after a cold, wet winter.  When my husband and I were young and spent most of the summer weekends on the creek or the river, I used to long for weather hot enough to brave the icy water of Sugar Creek.  Memorial Day was the very earliest we ever were able to swim in the spring-fed water.  Along about August, generally the most miserably hot month of the year, I am more than ready for fall.  (I remember a book from long ago called “Let’s Do Away with August,” and I will second that motion.)  I don’t have time to anticipate winter, once September arrives, because in the little town I call home, fall is the busiest time of the year.  Once Halloween decorations appear in the stores, we mount a galloping horse that doesn’t stop until Christmas.  My calendar already holds a solid wall of events for the next two months, and there are surely more to be filled in.  It will be January before we can draw a long breath. 

But right now, anticipation rules the day.  However hard it is to wait, the waiting makes the thing itself sweeter. Waiting for a special concert is exciting.  Waiting for the weekend and a much-anticipated party is exquisite torture.  Waiting for Christmas morning is almost better than Christmas morning itself and there is always a let down at the end of those special days.  I would have explained that to those white chrysanthemums if they had just asked.