Life with Flowers

    The daffodils are blooming in the woods.  Daffodils are quite dear to me; they remind me of so many sweet childhood moments: of Easter eggs hunts, a pretty new dress each year and a floral hat, of the first bouquet of flowers which my grandmother always brought to me, and of the very special spring two decades ago when I looked out my car window at all the rows of blooming daffodils, while I was on my way to the hospital to become a mother myself.  But, beyond the special memories, I admire the simple daffodil because they're also so hardy that they push their way through all the dead leaves, and weather the spring frosts just to be the first golden tokens of springtime.  They're determined to bloom where ever they are planted.  It's a life lesson for us all.

    Flowers are a frivolous thing to some and a necessity to others.  Growing up, my dear sweet little grandmother surrounded herself and her home with flowers.  She planted them in every possible sunny spot or had them potted and sitting in every sunny window.  My dad recently complained how hard it was for him to mow around all her flower beds and how he tried to convince her that it was stupid and pointless to have so many flowers to take care of, "they were nothing but a nuissance," he remarked.  I love my father very much, but I'm afraid he missed the point entirely.  

    My grandmother's life was so very sad, I can't imagine her life without flowers; I can't imagine her without flowers.  How much more bleak and lonely her life would have been without her flowers to care for and bring beauty into her world in return.  I can't image how bland, how dreary her home would have been without all her flowers, and how very mundane her days would have rolled past without her flowers to care for, without the anticipation that there was one place in her life where she knew her hardwork would pay off.  

    And as I get older and my life changes, I find that I am in a season now, where I can't imagine my life without flowers.  We don't always get the lives we want, there's no guarantee we'll even get the lives we work for or deserve.  The best we can do is make the most of what we're given.  If life gives you a barren land, plant some seeds and care for them until they grow; make the desert bloom.  If life gives you a cage, make it so gilded and comfortable that you forget about the bars and all the wild birds look on in envy.  An empty life can be filled with meaningful work, even if it's only meaningful to you, and joy and contentment will inevitably blossom from it.

 Outfit Info:  Elena Dress in Pink Toile from Worth Collective, shoes from VIVAIA, necklace is handmade by me.