Day 3,517 in the Nanny June Care Home

The One With Greek Mythology

Sitting quietly, with a peacefully sleeping Nanny June in the bed next to me.

Today, I brought some hyacinth bulbs with me and knowing all flowers have meaning, decided to have a Google while I'm sat in silence.

The internet is full of answers…as always, not always the right ones.

The hyacinth is apparently associated with words like peace, power and pride. A symbol of happiness and love, commitment and beauty, but also of wisdom and tranquility. Which is a lot to expect for one flower.

Further down the rabbit hole of my Google search…

Hyacinthus was apparently a Spartan prince who was so gorgeous that he attracted the love of Apollo, the god of the sun. Unfortunately while Apollo was teaching Hyacinthus to play discus, the discus hit Hyacinthus on the head. And he died. The devastated Apollo created a flower to mark the place where he fell. Conflicting reports suggest that due to his unrequited love for Hyacinthus that it was actually the god of the West Wind - Zephyrus, who deflected the discus out of jealousy and intentionally hit Hyacinthus on the head to kill him. Either way, where the spilt blood fell from the handsome prince grew a flower called hyacinthos which is unlikely to be the hyacinth we recognise today.

And the blood might also have not been from Hyacinthus but was actually the blood of Ajax, the son of Telamon.

Nanny June used to use Ajax to clean the bath.

Whoever bled and died, they were mourned.

They had been loved and lost.

So maybe Nanny June has more in common with the royalty of Greek Mythology than you would first think.