Foolish Old Man - The Sweet Scent of Spring...

The flowers in the lobby look a little sad today. They are drooping and falling onto the table. But the scent hits me as soon as I entered the seventh floor lobby.

The sweet-smelling purple flowers fill the room with life, if only for a moment.

Stepping off the elevator and into the lobby, the only person I see is Kirk. With his back to the elevator, he seems to sense that it is me...

"those are Violets you smell..." he said "I ought to know! I've trimmed them this morning as I have done for forty-seven seasons!" he continued as-matter-of-factly.

"Hi Kirk!" I squeezed in, but he just continued...

"Forty-seven springs of bloom did I tender!" He pauses as if all of a sudden lost in his own thoughts.

"Even in Nam I grew them! I picked them every morning and placed them on the net of my helmet."

Wait a second... He's not talking to me! he's just recounting his memories. Reliving the moments that the scent of the violets brings.

"Nope! Nam couldn't kill that..." Now Kirk seems to pause for a second.

That moment lasted for a few minutes and then all of a sudden a happy moment seems to slip in.

"We even had Violets at my oldest's wedding! Every Spring my daughters used to wake up to the sweet scent of violets. I don't know why, but slowly the rough years and months seem to make the sweet scent just fade away. Violets seemed to be around less and less till one day..."

Kirk stopped!

"...till one day what, Kirk? what happened?" I implored to know.

"One day - Betty died."

Kirk stopped all together. The trip down memory lane ended and he just slumped forward in his chair. Kirk reverted back to being a resident at the nursing home and the only thing running now is the drool down his cheek.

So sad to see them just stop like that.