Day 4

5/15/22

Today was all about dandelions! Everywhere I looked on our walk, there were lawns sprinkled with the yellow "flowers" and others where no self-respecting weed would be seen! Gus sniffed at a few, but Lilly and Ranger seemed be more interested in these diversions from green. They actually stopped to smell the roses...make that dandelions!

As I walked through the neighborhood, there were a number of people actually interacting with the dandelions. I was fascinated to hear the different opinions about the "spring flower"! One neighbor admitted that they weren't hurting anything, so he would simply leave them in all their abundance. A second neighbor shared that she quite enjoyed plucking them out. Finally, a very respected neighbor (also a pastor) admitted that he only dug them up so the neighbors wouldn't complain. I wanted to ask him why he thought God had put them here on earth in the first place, but he was too dedicated to gathering them with a determined expression.

When I taught elementary students, each spring the dandelions would grow like a well-tended crop on the playground. My young friends would run up to me, offer me a yellow bouquet and watch with joy as I thanked them and raved about the beautiful gift. I would take them back into the classroom and gently arrange them in a vase...or two or three...and give each yellow bundle a place of honor on my desk. My students thought they had given me the best gift EVER and they actually had. With each yellow flower, they shared their love, generosity and budding attempts of giving to others. I treasured those bouquets!

As I finished my walk, I was still smiling with recollections of my beloved students. Suddenly, I glanced across the street and saw a neighbor eyeing my lawn with its smattering of yellow. Grudgingly, I led the pups to the back yard, gathered my tools and started digging out the dandelions in my own yard. I put on a good show, but in my heart, I still could see those little fists handing me their bundle of yellow flowers. My heart was smiling with each yellow flower I gathered today. I even put a few in a vase on the table to honor all of those sweet students and memories from long ago.