Lilac Trees?

This morning I read that Vincent van Gogh was “charmed by the magic of memories of the past.”  On the path I’ve chosen for my walks lately.  There are lilac trees.  Is there such a thing?  I’ve always known beautifully fragrant lilac bushes but never trees before.  Yet the flowers look like white lilacs.  They smell strongly and sweetly of lilacs.  It took me a minute to find the blossoms on the trees.

The scent made me stop and remember.  I was charmed by the magic of memories of the past as van Gogh said.  Closing my eyes, I could see myself pregnant with Jason in 1979 standing with my mother-in-law Isabel Moran and her daughters Isabel, Winifred and Kathy on the side of her home on Cabot Street in front of gorgeous white and purple lilac bushes so tall and stately.  It wasn’t a great neighborhood with the train tracks I wasn’t allowed to cross when riding my bike in that area as a teenager.   The neighborhood was decaying, yet the lilacs bloomed and cast a brilliant beauty on that place with the love of a mom for her daughters, daughter-in-law and soon-to-be born grandchild. 

It is the picture in my photo album that brings that scene to mind.  That is why I scrapbook.  It is the smell of the lilacs as I walk that brings that scene to mind.  Amazing the power of scent.  It is in being outside that brings that scene to mind as I recall an amazing God who created lilacs, our ability to smell, and our memories.  Thanks be to God. 

Take a walk.  What do you see and smell that open up your mind and heart to memories stored there?