Mar 10
22
Yellow Daffodils
When my husband and I were newly married, we experienced a cold winter. We were living in a mountainous region of the country complete with blankets of snow (why do they call them “blankets” anyway?…aren’t blankets supposed to keep you warm?) and dormant trees. I kind of felt like we were living in a wasteland of our own, only I left my copy of TS Eliot back in the Sunshine State.
Anyway, we would bundle up and drive around, but I had trouble shaking a feeling of blah. Hey, wasn’t I supposed to feel happy? I had just met & married the man of my dreams, right? Right. So, I tried to carry on through the cold & snow of winter. We went to cultural events, concerts, museums, and worked to enjoy life indoors.
Then, one day, about this time of year, but a gazillion emotional years ago, we drove out to my great aunt’s home. She lived about a half-hour away from our apartment, and I loved visiting her. She fed our taste buds with her warm, amazing stew and fed my spirit with stories about her mother–the grandmother I never knew in this life. Then we headed for home.
My husband opened my door as we prepared to travel back to our humble abode. We wove through the ribbons of black asphalt…and then I saw them. Daffodills. Bright yellow daffodills. They were amazing! I felt this rush of feelings…hope, warmth, joy, exuberance for upcoming Spring! Hooray!!!
I had forgotten this experience until recently (it was a gazillion years ago, after all). I walked into someone’s home, and, there, on the entry table, sat a pot of yellow daffodills. This winter has been a very difficult one for me–physically and emotionally–but seeing those bright, hopeful flowers took me back to warm stew and sweet stories and the rush of a new Spring, a new life.
Winter will be over soon. We will pack up jackets and jeans and pull out swim suits and flip-flops. We will walk in the glow of the sun on the sand of the beach. We will see life with another year of growth and experience behind us, and, though most of our surroundings will be the same, we will be new.
What will you do with this Spring?
