Weeds

I love flowers. I love when my husband surprises me with flowers that he has gotten on his way home. I love it that he is passing this tradition down to our son when they go to the grocery store together. It is so fun to watch the joy in Ramble's face as he gives me a bouquet of flowers he has picked out just for me. Raptor loves it when she is included in Daddy's tradition also.

Now, I love any flowers. . . not just the ones that are traditional. I love roses (pink ones and that really pale purple almost gray kind), gerber daisies, lilacs, Easter lilies, and a kind that I don't know the name of but that comes in a beautiful pink and purple flower with a ball behind the flower. I also love dandelions. I have loved them since I was a kid. They were so fun to play with. They made great necklaces, rings, and crowns. They were also great for making wishes that had to come true if you could just blow all those little white puffs off the stem. I have loved them as an adult since my son was old enough to toddle around our yard picking flowers for me. The smile on his face as he would present me with a dandelion is something I will never forget. My daughter has carried on this tradition. All last summer, I would watch her sneak out the back door and hunt through the yard for something. When she found it, she would come racing back as fast as she could with something precious in her hands and a smile of joy on her face. Then I would be presented with a dandelion. I would hug her and thank her. Telling her I loved her, we would put the precious flower into water and place it on the table for all to see. Her brother taught her this and would also help to hunt for these beautiful flowers. We were lucky because we lived across from a field of dandelions. This was bliss for my dandelion hunters.

A good friend of mine once told her kids and mine to stop picking the dandelions because they were weeds. Ramble was devastated. After we left their home, he asked me if they were weeds. I told him that some people think they are weeds because they can grow anywhere and that they will take over an area if people don't control them. Then I told him that I loved dandelions because they were the flowers that he brought to me.

I don't think dandelions are weeds. How could they be when they bring smiles to children's faces and are given with love to their moms?

Ramble saw a dandelion after her program and stopped to pick it for me. Thank you!