This time of year, in Texas, the countryside is covered with wildflowers, Indian Paintbrush and especially our state flower, the Bluebonnet. In central Texas, great swaths of pastureland are covered in the orange-red of the Paintbrush and the blue-violet of the Bluebonnet.
People stream out of the cities to take pictures of this annual occurrence. This year would produce a bumper crop because of the wet and mild winter. There’s probably not a family in Texas who does not have a family picture in a field of Bluebonnets.
Unfortunately, this year with the CV-19 shelter in place, many if not most will not get to enjoy this beautiful season. It’s like the philosophical question “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” If no one can see and enjoy all this beauty, did it really occur? So, this year, for me, it’s the year without Bluebonnets. Sadly, a lot of things didn’t or won’t occur this year.
This past week, I cancelled the last of our reservations for the trip to Big Bend National Park. The Park itself will not reopen until June 1st at the earliest so there was really no hope of sneaking it in after the shelter in place is lifted which will probably be May 15th.
I was really looking forward to returning to Big Bend after 40 years with my friends and to showing my German friend Katja something that she will not see in Europe, wide open spaces with few people, buildings or cars and the Milky Way as she’s never seen it before. Those of us here in Dallas don’t see the stars that way either, there is almost no light pollution in that part of Texas, it’s just so remote.
For me, this year so far has been about a lot of change and adaptation. Some changes have already occurred, and some will occur in the future but, things will change. From reading the Dalai Lama, I was reminded that some pain is unavoidable but may be necessary to move forward with healing.
The future always holds promise, I know this year there’s unavoidable pain coming my way as well. As I try to prepare myself for it, I hope I’m strong enough.