Magnolia

Magnolia's coloured my life for many years.

I noted them for the first time, when I had to ride my bike Summer and Winter on my daily travels to my horse. It was 1984.

Her stable was on a farm, 5 miles from my home. In the Winter it was not always easy, also because the time that I was busy with my mare was as cold or wet as the cycle-trip. The way back home, half-frozen or drenched in rain, could feel endless.

February often used to be the coldest month of the year and the cycling was a bit of a challenge. But on my way to the stable, I would pass several Magnolia's, trees and shrubs, decorating front-gardens. In February the flower buds of the Magnolia become prominently visible, fore-telling Spring with clear signs.

The Magnolia's were the highlights of my trips, promising that soon the cold and dark days would be over. 

And then one day, my horse had since long died and I was a mom of three children by now, we found a new and nice house in the Magnolialaan...the Magnolia Avenue. Not only did I love the name of the street, but the whole street had been decorated with numerous Magnolia's by the local council. Pink flowered shrubs and trees with an abundance of smaller white flowers.

Three of these trees stood only a few meters away from our windows. In Spring our daughters bedroom on the first floor was floating amidst a sea of divine white flowers. And the wonderful fresh and sweet Magnolia fragrance would perfume our house and street.
Living in that street in Spring was an enchanting privilege, for a few weeks it was the most beautiful street of the world. And during ten years we could be part of it. Last Autumn we moved. From Holland to England.

We live in a green part of London, most houses have a garden. Here too I have seen Magnolia's, but only a few. It feels like the Magnolia is no longer part of my life.

Where twenty-five years ago Magnolia announced Spring, there now its absence signifies the closure of a period: the youth of my children.

It makes me happy to live in London, where we made a new start. If I miss my eldest daughter, my parents and other family-members and friends, yet I don't miss my old house and city. But the disappearing of the Magnolia's is something I still can't comprehend. They were part of me and my whole being.

Perhaps I should plant a small Magnolia in our garden. And know when it will soon be Spring.