A Somewhat Miraculous Day

I have lived in my house over thirty years!  Gosh, it sure doesn’t seem that long ago that Rebecca and I moved in.  The previous owner was, I heard, a rather eccentric lady – a nurse who walked her dog in her pajamas.  If you can imagine such a thing!  This sounds all too familiar!  Unlike me, however, she was a great gardener, and her yard was filled with a wonderful variety of flowers.  Initially, I rather let things go, being more interested in getting the inside (a mess compared to the garden) fitted up, and by the time Rebecca grew into being the family gardener, many of Sofia’s (for that was her name) flowers had faded away from neglect.  In one corner of the yard, there was a stand of poppies.  We both loved them, and tried, unsuccessfully, to give them life support and keep them from joining the other failed foliage.  When the last poppy died, well over twenty years ago, we planted others, but never with any success. We often reminisce about Sofia’s wonderful poppies, and speculate as to why we are incapable of reproducing them.  We had volunteer poppies of a quite different variety in a different part of the garden, but they were not the same.  Then, the other day, I was in the yard, and lo! One of Sofia’s poppies had resurrected itself.  After twenty years! I sent a photo to Rebecca, and she immediately texted back, “A miracle!”  And indeed it is a miracle.