There is a tale in my six pots of bulbs planted in the autumn of last year.
I don’t have a garden and in a moment of longing to feel the earth between my fingers and to brighten up the barren area of stones whose only purpose is to park my car; I planted six pots of daffodils and tulips.
As I pushed those papery bulbs deep into the soil, little did I realise the pleasure and meaning they would bring to my life in lockdown.
The first buds appeared as coronavirus invaded our shores and they began to blossom as lockdown was enforced.
I am a nurse by profession but the nature of my role meant I could work from home. As I began to hear and see the awful scenes of disaster on the frontline, I suffered enormous guilt that I was safe at home while sending our nurses out into the community. On my days off from work, I would worry about my adult children in virus hotspots abroad and in moments of self-pity, to realize that because I live alone there was no one in the world right now that I could touch.
But those six pots of bulbs had a tale to tell me. They told me to bloom where I was planted — that I could be of use to others from my enforced isolation — that I could bring comfort to our patients and families by telephone; support to our nurses and find new ways of connecting with family and friends.
The poetry sessions that I had just begun in local residential homes and which were now cancelled, were reinstated via Zoom, and I found purpose in collaborating with others on a poetry toolkit.
My pots of bulbs also told me that although so many things in my life had been cancelled or put on hold; that Spring as well as kindness, love, courage and hope could never be cancelled.
But above all, the pots of bulbs told me to slow down — to take time each day to smell their fragrant blossom and to simply stop and admire their beauty. They told me of the importance of paying attention to my life and to live more in the present than in the past or the future.
The beautiful blossoms have faded now and their leaves are turning brown but their memory is a constant reminder of life in lockdown and I hope that when this difficult time is over and gone, that the tale they told will remain with me and make a difference to how I live my life.
Lilian