THERE’S a vase of cut roses on the long dining table where I’m writing this.
This article is written in advance because I will be traveling again soon. (See “In Transit” in last Monday’s issue.)
But yeah, I spent most of Spring in Washington, New Jersey at my cousin’s.
“My cousin’s” because she bought the house.
But her mom, my aunt, basically keeps it.
***
My cousin is spoiled.
Her mom cooks for her, cleans the house, tends the garden.
My aunt recently retired from Nursing.
The only tasks I took on when I arrived was to walk the dog, which really means to make sure the dog pees and poops.
I also volunteered to do the dishes, and the used kitchenware.
A small price to pay for the food that I eat.
***
I mean, I have no problem occasionally paying for the groceries.
But my aunt’s labor of love to do Filipino breakfast, and pinakbet, adobo, paksiw, sotanghon, pancit, and all that stuff!
I’m so grateful to auntie.
Although I could be equally satisfied by a bagel and some smoked salmon for breakfast.
Or the green spring salad mix and a 6-minute steak for lunch.
***
I’m supposed to be in an intermittent fasting diet.
My choice is 16 hours of fasting, and feasting in the remaining 8 hour period.
It’s something that they cannot seem to understand.
So, most of my meals with them are not ideally fit for my intermittent fasting schedule.
But I like the poverty of depending on other people who insist on feeding me! Haha.
***
My aunt has spoiled me a little bit in the last two months.
But I’m glad to be still at 135 pounds.
I usually skip dinner, but I would indulge and join them for an 8am breakfast.
***
I’m mentioning my aunt because she placed the cut flowers, and she maintains the gardens.
We had some azalea a few weeks ago.
And the phlox were really the first to bloom.
Followed by the narcissus and the jonquils, the daffodils.
***
But I was the irises that really stood out for me on this visit.
For weeks now, the irises were just surprising me.
The biggest joy is seeing it from the first three blooms to suddenly 75, to 120, to I’m pretty sure over 150 now.
Yellows, purples, and that white-and-violet variety.
They’re all documented in my Facebook and Instagram.
***
Flowers are my proofs for the “best things in life are free”.
I like studying flowers.
I appreciate their colors, textures, shapes. And fragrance if I could smell them.
Well, it seems like I have a well developed olfactory sense. Because I can smell most flower scents, and my cousin cannot.
She can only smell farts that she can hear!
***
When I walk the dog, I only enjoy my walk because I can pass by the neighbors’ flowers.
Tulips, redtips, weeping cherry, cherry blossoms, dogwood, crabapple.
I’ve taken thousands of pictures of flowers.
I may never review them, but I just love the idea of capturing them, framing them under my lens.
I figured that in my bored old age, I can work with them, create art, or picture books, something like that.
***
There is a spreading rumor that I am rich.
I do not try to correct people’s impression of me if they think that way.
But beyond my travels, bank accounts, real estate properties, and other investments, my greatest wealth are my real experiences with flowers.
And of sunsets, and the foods that I really savor.
***
My meal tracking has made me aware of what food I eat.
And because I try to eat small portions, I try to enjoy every bite, every morsel of food.
***
My daily sunrises and sunsets have gone well in the last five months.
I have never missed a single sunrise or sunset yet. Rain or shine. Thunderstorm or fog.
There’s deep reflection in my tracking of sunrises and sunsets.
They help me understand why tragedies happen; they help me understand why we can always hope.
As the sun also rises!
***
In the Bible, the flowers are referred to be unaware of their beauty.
They’re beautiful, not because they worry about their looks, but because they’re created by God.
I think that’s Luke 12:27. But I want you to check and be sure.
Because too often, when we read that verse, we forget to focus on the word “look” or “see” or “consider”.
And that’s exactly what I do when I stop to smell the flowers.
And because of such experience of smelling the flowers, I am way richer than the common millionaires./PN
