The Checkered Tulips . . .

Do you have any flowers growing in your yard which give you a sense of happiness to see them in bloom? I live just 30 minutes from Holland, MI - home of the Tulip festival, and as you might imagine, tulips are a big deal in this area. Pretty much everyone around here has tulips which bloom in their flower gardens - even people like me who have the "black thumb of death" when it comes to growing plants!

Yes, even I have tulips growing in my little flower garden . . . and I'm being extremely "generous" to call this area of my yard a "garden"! Red tulips primarily, but sometimes yellow or white, too. I love all the tulips, but there is one special tulip we have which does not bloom every year. When it does we only get one or two blooms. This special tulip is the Checkered Tulip. It has a lovely red and white checkered pattern which covers the blooms and the blooms hang down - like a bell. I love the Checkered Tulip.

This past Friday my husband and I noticed we had one Checkered Tulip blooming - we were very happy!

Which reminded me of several years ago while I was finishing up preparations for my mother's birthday dinner, I turned and saw my sweet four-year old middle grandson - his blue eyes twinkled and he had a smile from ear-to-ear, and . . . well, you might be correctly guessing what happened next! Yes, my sweet little grandson had picked my Checkered Tulips and brought them in to me!

It was a very short time to enjoy the Checkered Tulips that particular year, but the memory of his love and happiness at bringing me something special filled my heart with joy eight years ago and continues to do so today!