In 2010, I came home to a single tulip in a cup on my front porch with this note from my next-door neighbor:
“Sara,
You planted this tulip in my front yard when you were about 4-5 years old. Each year without fail it comes back even after the harshest of winters to tell us yet 1another summer is here to enjoy. I can’t believe its been almost 10 years and here she is again. This year, you enjoy her almost as much as I have been all these years.
Always, Ms. Rosa.”
Ms. Rosa had lived in the house next to me since I was a baby. She had three children, the youngest of whom was my age and was my first-ever best friend. We were inseparable as babies and played together every day after school until the time that boys and girls got cooties and we had to act cooler than we were.
I spent almost as much time at Ms. Rosa’s house as I spent at mine.
This note was possibly the last interaction I had with Ms. Rosa before she passed away during my freshman year of college.
I moved into the house I built for myself in 2022 and had a front garden of my own. I remembered the note that Ms. Rosa left and I wanted to continue the tradition. I bought bulbs, planted them in front of my house, and waited for my tulips to let me know that summer was coming. I thought, “what a sweet, full-circle moment this will be.”
Well, they bloomed. Any they’re daffodils.
I laughed so hard when I saw them pop up. I reached out to her daughters to tell them about the sweet, full-circle moment that would never be.
We all agreed: Ms. Rosa would be laughing, too.
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, but the plot twists make for better stories and there will still be flowers every summer to remind me of the strong, kind woman I grew up living next to.