always a sign of spring

Bleeding hearts
The first time I seen a bleeding heart plant I was in high school, visiting a friends house.
Growing beside her front step was the most remarkable plant I have ever seen. The flowers on it completely charmed me.
I had never seen something so simple and beautiful. When she wondered out loud what I was staring at, and I pointed to the plant that held my attention and then asked "what is it?" Shirley replied with "It's a bleeding heart" as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. I wondered at the sight she had every time she came or left her home, and found I was a bit jealous at the beautiful view she had. Flowers and landscaping wasn't a part of my home space. We did not plant flowers, only a garden. Once in awhile my dad would let us plant a flower or two in the garden, but the purpose of the garden was to grow food, not flowers. I didn't see beauty in the growing plants in the garden I simply saw work. The endless weeding and watering dimmed any beauty that may have been there. To the preteen I certainly didn't buy the whole line about "how happy my tummy would be come winter" I would have opted to be hungry rather than face one more row of weeds.
Years later when we moved into our first home. I carried through with a promise I had made to myself and planted a bleeding heart. It was the first thing planted at our new home. Every spring I find myself watching and waiting for those stems to appear and eventually the flowers to begin to bloom. Each year I experience that simple wonder and happiness just like the first time I saw the flowers at my friends house. It is one of my happiest spring memories.