WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES — Sharon Mark Cohen

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy traveling. That’s especially true when we can see family and celebrate happy occasions. Yet, I get tremendous pleasure watching our flowers blossom.

As we were preparing for our trip to the Bay Area for a cousin’s bat mitzvah in May 2024, and the chance to visit with other cousins who live in towns around San Francisco, I stepped outside on a glorious northeast day in our home state of New Jersey. The first thing that I noticed was that our Irises opened overnight.

The fact that I snapped a photo of the blossoming buds a day earlier made me so happy. The miracle of nature seemed surreal as it came to life before my eyes.

Quickly, I sent my husband a message to suggest we visit the Presby Iris Gardens in Montclair that day, about a 20-minute drive from our home, to see the splendid colorful display of Irises. The thought was to do it before we headed out of town, fearing the blossoms may be all gone when we returned home in a week.

While that’s a post about the flowers, what about life in general? The adage, “Here today, gone tomorrow…” beckons us to take pause and make it about the present.

That said, everyone should look forward to making tomorrow beautiful. The flowers surely know what to do!

Those perennial buds are a bonus. They keep making us happy by coming back and blossoming year after year.