New Year's Eve! The children shouted as my mother removed the last page of the old calendar. Taking down the old calendar, putting up the new one - it was a ritual in my family.
After removing the last calendar page, my mother always used a soft cloth to wipe off the dust on that wall. At that time, my father had finished assembling the new calendar on the cardboard, removed the cover, revealing the first calendar page of the new year with the bright red words - New Year's Day.
I don’t remember how many years we have performed that ritual together, I don’t remember how many years have passed on that wall, but I remember, my father always reminded: You must know how to cherish time, you must use your time to do many good things. Now, there are many ways to look at the calendar, but my family still keeps the old way. We still hang the calendar, tear off the calendar every day, and still make notes on some calendar pages and put them in a paper bag.
There are many old calendars where my father carefully recorded family events, such as the day my mother sowed the first row of cabbage... Photo: Internet
Sometimes it was the day my mother sowed the first row of mustard greens, the day the chickens hatched, the day my father grafted lemon or grapefruit branches, the day my grandchild got his first baby tooth, the day my father planted a certain flower in the garden... These were trivial things but full of joy. That's why my father always wrote very neatly. I always thought that a certain flower had bloomed fragrantly in each stroke of his handwriting.
- If he were still alive, the gladiolus and dahlias in my uncle's garden would have been blooming green! - My father suddenly exclaimed as he flipped through the calendar pages with notes from the old year. My uncle was a person who loved flowers immensely. In the tiny garden in front of his house in those long ago years, there were never no flowers blooming. Sometimes it was cinnamon roses, sometimes violets, forget-me-nots, sometimes portulacas, sometimes marigolds. And during the traditional New Year, the gladiolus and dahlias were always in full bloom.
Every spring, there are always flowers that herald spring, welcome spring, and celebrate spring blooming in the hands of the cultivator. Photo: Internet
No flower species that has been cultivated by his hands has not bloomed profusely. We have learned from him the spirit of loving flowers, so in front of the house, no matter how many times it has changed, we always set aside a plot of land to plant flowers. So that every spring, there will always be flowers that announce spring, welcome spring, and celebrate spring blooming in the hands of the cultivator.
The New Year has truly come! The children's voices rang out again as they discovered the first bud of marigolds beginning to open!
- Who taught you that?
- It's grandpa! It's grandpa! - each child answered in their own way and was absorbed in exploring the buds on the chrysanthemum bushes and peach trees that grandpa had planted to celebrate Tet! A peaceful day had begun again...
And this morning, when the first calendar page opened, I silently hummed that song - "Spring has just arrived, flowers are in my hands...". Photo Internet
My father used to say that every day that passes, tearing off an old calendar page in peace is a great happiness. Perhaps my parents also secretly put many wishes into those pages. So that we always have peaceful days, always have the opportunity to live a decent life every day. And this morning, when the first calendar page was opened, I silently hummed that song - "Spring has just come, flowers come to the hands..." when thinking about my uncle, my parents and the hands that are nurturing the buds to welcome the new year. Suddenly, I wanted to separate that song from its subject to write the epigraph for my own spring story...
Mr. Hoai
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