Bulbs

Words are weirdly wonderful.

Here's one, for instance: bulb.

What's the first thing you think of?

The dim bulb over in the corner, never getting your jokes, hidden behind an empty gaze?

The light bulb that just blew out even though it's a new one that's supposed to last five years and for that reason cost a lot of money?

The old-fashioned pressure bulb on a big box camera?

Or the bulbs that my friends F and TJ planted by the dozens in their garden? The ones that bloom into cheerful yellow and orange and red explosive bursts of color, lined up in neat rows like lollipops, each flowering at a slightly different time?
I like these bulbs, and after seeing their cheerful profusion, F and TJ's garden will always leap to mind first when someone utters the word "bulb."

No dim ones, they!