About four weeks ago I was handed a bag of spring bulbs. Apparently, they had been forgotten about, and the person who gave them to me was wondering was it too late to do anything with them.
‘If anyone can make them grow its you’ that’s what was said! Well, it was very late, they should have been finished blooming for the season, but I decided to plant them, and it is always worth a try.
I looked through the bag and picked out what I thought was still alive. The spot I picked is right in the warmest corner of the garden very well shaded and free from frost.
So, I put them into a little plant pot and placed them in the ‘hot spot’.
Low and behold, two days later here they were starting to appear over the soil. I was so excited. Purple hyacinths are the first ones out and not sure yet what the other colours are, but they are well on their way.
It reminded me of a student I had in class about ten years ago. He was what you would call a very giddy student, always talking laughing and being distracted by anyone and anything.
Just before midterm in February, I always gave students a little mock exam. Then I handed them a feedback sheet, which allowed them to see what they were doing really well, what they were not doing so well on and support as to how to improve.
Apparently, I wrote on his feedback sheet that I was suggesting that he changed his company, that it was not good for him, and I didn’t understand why he didn’t believe in himself because I did.
He told me many years later, that I was the first person who had ever told him that he was believed in. When he was at secondary school he was constantly compared to an older sibling and just decided he was going to rebel.
School was a disaster; he was always in trouble and hated going in.
Well, when he came back after the break, he was a very different student. Really applied himself and did very well in his exams.
Here he is now many years later a very accomplished therapist and marshal arts teacher in his last year of a degree course.
So, there you go, just because it might not look so good at the very early stages, doesn’t mean it won’t be really good later down the line.
Late bloomers aren’t always flower bulbs; they are sometimes people who for whatever the reason have little motivation to develop their potential.
I’m really happy that my feedback gave this student the belief in himself to go on and become a late bloomer!