Shelter in Place, San Francisco, March 14, 2021

Every day there are new signs of spring in the garden, a continuation of the cycle I’ve been sharing on these pages for a year. In full summer, this small azalea hides so well beneath its neighbor that I almost forget it’s there. How fitting, then, that this little gem sneaks its springtime blossoms in before the hydrangea has time to fill out and dominate the space. The azalea’s buds are fragile, they are fleeting, but they are spectacular, and a reminder that life is always beautiful somewhere, whether we remember to look for it or not.

We have lived in such proximity to death and tragedy this pandemic year that all our energy has gone into keeping it at bay and we, the lucky ones, have counted it a miracle that the virus has yet to touch us. But with our obsession of all things COIVD, we can forget that life and death are always lurking in the shadows. We are fragile creatures. Life itself is fragile and it is finite with or without a particular disease. But it is also a miracle we must celebrate even and especially here and now.