Signs of Spring

“The earth laughs in flowers.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Paperbush in bloom.

Ceremonies and rituals are my life. I think about them all the time. I help people create them and officiate them. Some are complex ballets with weeks of preparation, multiple steps, and elaborate props.

And some are simple rituals that just ask you to pause, notice, and be grateful.

I am currently enjoying one of those. It’s a seasonal thing that takes place just outside my door. To the right of my small front porch grows a Paperbush, scientific name Edgeworthia Chrysantha. It’s a native of China and I’d never seen one until I moved here eighteen months ago.

Like most deciduous plants, it drops its leaves in the fall. But then it does an odd thing. In early winter flower buds form. And the plant holds them like little fists all through the frozen months. They sleep there outside my kitchen window through snow and ice and terrible winds. They are my little promise that I see each day - “Don’t worry, winter won’t last forever.”

And it doesn’t. Forsythia and snow drops may be the classic heralds of spring, but not for me. Because right now, when the mornings can still be frosty, and few things are budding, the Paperbush blooms.

The blossoms hang downward and resemble glowing yellow lanterns. And the scent! Oh, its heady perfume greets me every time I open the door.

So now, whenever I leave home, or arrive, I stop and smell the flowers. At least two, but maybe three or four. Or more. I just pause, notice, and am grateful.

That’s it. That’s the ritual. Nothing complicated. Just a few moments of sensory bliss and the gratitude that for a few weeks each year it is mine.

Remember to create, celebrate, and gather.

(I hope what I write here on Celebrationism.net is helpful. But I know that it cannot replace actual therapy. If you are dealing with serious emotional challenges, please seek out a mental health professional.)

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