My friend Chris is one of those enviable people who try to make the most of every moment, packing in action and events into every single hour of living. He’s the guy who books his flights at the last hour possible in order to extend the weekend for its full duration. I’m the opposite – I prefer to hear out early to get home and get back in the head-space of the daily grind so as to allow some decompression time. There are merits to both, but on this Sunday following our Boston Children’s Holiday Hour, I decided to give Chris’s way half a chance. When he mentioned he had never been to the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, I went against all my Virgo grain and decided to join him on an impromptu Sunday morning jaunt to one of my favorite places in Boston.
My usual time to visit the Gardner is deeper into the winter, when I’m starting to feel the despondency of the season really start to drag us down. Maybe we’re already in such despondent waters, as I felt the pull of needing to be around beauty and warmth and greenery. Orchids against a snowy backdrop will always remind me of the magic that is humanity.
This is the original birthplace of my love-affair with tree ferns, where a quartet of them anchors the central garden courtyard. Scarlet accents of poinsettias, amaryllis, and flowering maples provided a new view for me (I don’t recall ever visiting during the holidays – shame on me for such negligence).
Something was producing an exquisite perfume, but I never could determine its origin – one of those beautiful mysteries that will have to remain unsolved for now.
With the chaotic conundrum that is Christmas buzzing in the city around us, this sacred bit of tranquility and calm, charm and verdant beauty, provided a respite and relief. Shared with a friend, it came with a solemnity that hinted at the real meaning of Christmas.
Chris and I, both approaching our mid-century mark next year, found ourselves contemplative and still able to laugh at life. Our concerns are wildly different from what they were a quarter of a century ago, when a weekend in Boston meant drinking, partying, and losing mornings and often days – absolutely no regrets, for then or for now.
When our time at the Gardner was done, Chris went on to Harvard, I was back on the dreaded Mass Turnpike, and somehow Christmas was back in my heart.
