Arrival of the Queen of Sheba


The summer after we lost Blackjack -- a cat I will always consider to be one of the best friends I could  ever have hoped for -- I planted a garden to memorialize him. Ornamental grass because his favorite past time was to escape out a door far enough to hit a patch of grass where he would hunker down and start grazing. Catnip because, well, he was a cat. Black-eyed Susans because they are the color of his golden yellow eyes. And I wanted tulips. Black tulips. 

There is no such thing as a black tulip, but if you research them, you will be directed to the variety known as the Queen of Sheba. They are supposedly so purple as to be almost black. When they are not in direct sunlight, I suppose that's somewhat true. To me, they still look purple. But they are still special to me. I call them "Blackjack's tulips," and I look forward to them blooming every year. It's a nice way to remember him by. He was One. Special. Cat. 

And in this journey where the road takes one down unexpected twists and turns, planting a variety of tulips known as the Queen of Sheba ended up having another meaning. The Queen of Sheba was, of course, from Ethiopia. During my grief journey, a therapist commented on how much loss I'd had in my life and how little joy to counteract it. I decided that I couldn't stop the losses -- they are inevitable -- but I could control my own destiny somewhat by bringing something into my life to balance the losses with some joy. A someone. A child. And I began the adoption journey. That led us to Ethiopia. The land of the Queen of Sheba. For whom Blackjack's tulips are named.

The wild bunnies and the deer only let two of Blackjack's tulips bloom this year. And after an early heat spell that brought them above ground, they suffered through snowstorms and rainstorms that left them mud-spattered and hesitant to open to the gray skies of April. But those two bloomed -- two reminders of the joy two lives have brought me. 

Click here Handel's "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" for a musical bonus! 

Comments

  1. KMay 25, 2012 at 6:41 PM

    I'm too tired to write a coherent comment. So I'll just "like" this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. barb_alootMay 26, 2012 at 1:23 AM

    Beautiful! I'm a big fan of gardening as healing. Hope you're getting loads of sunshine to enjoy all of your little flowers.

    ReplyDelete

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