🏞 Life's breadcrumb trails

Late bloomers, labors of love, and other 'L' phrases, Part 2

As I read Karlgaard, I remembered seeing the words late bloomer in another context. It was on the British Museum’s page¹ on the botanical paper collage artist Mary Delany. I was googling Mary Delany because I’d come across the gorgeous cover of a book about her, The Paper Garden, An Artist {Begins her life’s work} at 72 by Molly Peacock.

I never read the book, but the cover and title stayed with me. The artist begins her life’s work at 72. It is a definitive and bold statement, full of ownership, yet one that can be arrived at only in retrospect. Because when we begin something, a new interest or a project, there is only the merest promise of it to go on. 

I remember thinking about that title often and feeling bursts of optimism because there might be interests or talents I hadn’t yet arrived at. That life was yet unfolding.

Does that mean that much like a giant Connect The Dots, the complete trajectory of our lives is visible only after the fact?

I’ll publish the final post in this short series (Late bloomers, labors of love, and other L phrases) later today. (The first post is here.)

1. British Museum page on Mary Delany