The Dame's Rocket Is So Beautiful

     My walk to work this morning took me through a tunnel of gorgeous four-petaled flowers, bringing back a regretful car conversation with a former life partner.

     Her: "The purple phlox are so beautiful this year."

     Me: "They would be if they were purple phlox."

     Her: "Hey, don't rain on my parade."

     Me: "I already told you I keyed them out as dame's rocket."

     Her: "What does it matter what they're called?"

     Me:  "It matters that you don't trust my plant identification skill."

     Her: "Leave me alone, I just want to look at the flowers."

     Me: "You got it."

     In appreciating their beauty on this late spring walk, it truly didn't matter what the flurry of soft petals in purple, violet, and white are called. Distinguishing their species only meant something to me in that former conversation because I was insecure with and fearful of the changes needed - in career, in relationship, in self-esteem. I was just beginning to discover herbal medicine as a pathway to a new life.

     Knowing what I know now, here's how I would have liked that conversation to have gone:

     "The purple phlox are so beautiful this year."

     "Yes, they're gorgeous, and I'm happy that you see beauty in nature."

Later that day, while she was working in the kitchen to make a meal for us and our two teenagers, I would have gone back to that tunnel, snipped a flower stem here and there, and placed them in a vase on the dining room table.

     Years later, after the changes are underway, a woman I've come to know and love gave me a second chance, observing "The dame's rocket is so beautiful this year." Where are my clippers?

Dame's rocket has alternate leaves