spring is all around, projects are in full swing, summer is approaching quickly, but i wanted to take a moment to just BREATHE.

when i was a little girl, we would visit my great-aunt and great-uncle (technically, i think they were great-greats to me) at their farm in rochester, indiana. while there, we would walk down the road to my great-great-grandparents' house. it is a small white house on a large yard, overlooking a field. there is a footprint where a barn used to be, and a creaky swing on the cement front porch, where i played for hours as a child. i can still close my eyes and smell the musty scent of the cement, the soft pungency on the spirea bushes that surround the porch, hear the wind whistling through the screens behind me, hear cows lowing somewhere in the distance. when i think of a peaceful place, i immediately think of this house. my grandma now lives there and i truly wish i could visit more often.

one thing i always loved about that house was a large lilac bush in the side yard near. i remember sitting in it's shade and stringing hundreds of little blossoms on thread to create a garland. i would pick sprigs and walk around for hours while holding them to my nose so i could smell only the sweetness of the flowers. and i vowed that when i grew up, i would have a house surrounded by lilacs. and peonies, but i don't have any so that part of the story will have to wait for another time.

i've been a homeowner for ten years now, two different houses in two vastly different parts of the city. at my old house there was a huge, neglected lilac in the back corner of the yard that had overgrown itself into a tree and hung out over the alley. i could barely reach any flowers because they were so high, but i could still smell them on the breeze occasionally.

at my current house, there are two small lilac trees in the front yard by the garage. they are spindly little things, a little too leggy from lack of pruning by the previous owners, but the most fragrant flowers grow on them. i love these little trees. last year they produced one flower. one. it was miserable. but this year it's covered, and every day i check the progress of the flowers. this weekend i will cut an armful and bring them in the house to enjoy for the duration of their brief life.

lilacs are home to me. they are as connected to my childhood as anything else. the scent takes me to a happy place in an instant.

what does that for you? is it a smell? a season? a song? find it, close your eyes and let it take you to a place you love, and then write it down. make a page to celebrate it. give yourself a reason to just breathe for a few moments and go where the memories take you.