Ah, the wandering flower lady

There's an odd lady that I see wandering about the neighborhood. She's an elderly woman that's relatively clean, but dresses like something out of The African Queen and resembles Katharine Hepburn. She wears an odd flowered hat and always seems to have a trash bag and some bouquet of flowers as she wanders about. I don't find her particularly disturbing. She appears to be clean and her clothes, although an odd fashion statement, seem to have been laundered. I really don't know what her routine or mission is in a given day, but she seems quite happy to do whatever it is she's doing with that trash bag and bouquet of flowers. I must confess that I find her comforting in a way. A reminder that life is often experienced in a way that we build for ourselves. For her, it is this random routine of wandering about picking wild flowers that she finds on the roadside. It makes me wonder how many people drive passed and find her a "nuisance" or a "crazy person" or "someone who's bringing down property values." But to me, she's just a reminder that life is short. And there is a beautiful simplicity to her task. We often hear the expression, "Stop and smell the roses." Well, my wandering Katharine Hepburn does. And I think today, I will go out to my garden and stop and smell my roses and wonder if there will be a point in my elder years, where I will be this person, wandering about picking wild flowers from the side of the road, wearing an odd hat. I do have a nice collection of hats.