Dandelions are one of my favorite flowers.
WHAT???!!
Aren’t they a noxious weed? Sure, they can be a real pain in the butt. They’ll take over a garden quick as anything.
They are an invasive import, the bane of every American lawn, and you’ll seldom see one on any “respectable” golf course.
So what gives???
Ok, well, it’s because my kids kind of forced them on me.
My oldest boy started it. Then he passed it down to the next one down, and it’s continued through the line to the youngest.
So every spring for close to twenty years I get a BIG bouquet of Dandelions.
It never fails, sometime shortly after they start popping up, usually on a warm spring day.
One of the boys slams into the house, a big grin creasing his dusty face, sweaty fist gripping a bunch of Dandelions.
When the first one did it I made a big fuss, put them in a vase, and crowed about it all day. “They’re my favorite! How did you know?”
Tongue in cheek, figuring after they wilted I’d just carefully make them disappear.
But more came, and the tradition continued, passed down from brother to brother.
Now it’s a rite of Spring, but one that soon may pass. As each boy passes into adolesence the cheerful bouquets stop coming.
Alec will be 11, and he already shows signs of impending manhood. Sean is seven, still a little boy, but not for long.
How many more bouquets in my future? I really don’t know.
So these days I love each one I get, A Dandelion Bouquet gets the same respect as a Dozen Roses.
To me Dandelions are the flowers of Love.
