Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Dandelion Musings

For thirty years, I've looked forward to dandelion bouquets in the spring.  Since Bre gifted me with the first bouquet, there has always been another young one to bring them home.

I'm not sure I totally appreciated those first bouquets. Along the way, I realized how quickly those little gift givers grow up....and I began to LOVE and look forward to them each spring/summer.

I bought a special vase to showcase them. 😊Stacia is our baby and I cherished each bouquet.

Stacia is quite old enough to KNOW  dandelions are not  only the wildflower I love to receive, but are, in fact, weeds. She's known this for 5 or 6 years, BUT, she continued to love to give them, and I loved to received them.

I knew last summer may be the very last summer for her to gift me with a bouquet. She is 11 and 3/4 now...and for the first time last year, when she gave a little bouquet to a loved one she was told they were "Not really flowers, but just weeds." I know the words weren't meant to be hurtful, but they did cause a hurt in her heart. I knew she would have to decide to be brave enough to offer them again....and so I watched the season come and go - and was a bit sad at the fact that this year I had no dandelion bouquets.....after 30 years I had run out of kids young enough to pick them and bring them to me.

I was most grieved Stacia's giving heart had been bruised and I purposed to talk with her about it when the moment was right.

As we walked yesterday, she picked this, I barely breathed as I watched to see what she would do. She said, "Mom, I'd like you to have this wishing weed."  I loved it. She trusted me with her gift. She pointed out they are so big up here you get more than one wish with them. I blew and blew....and then she joined me. I was happy to get my dandelion; a special moment I had always enjoyed with Stacia. I was excited to see she overcame the fear her gift would be rejected. I was worried she'd let that comment be the last bouquet she gave.

I confessed to her I'd been a bit sad not to get any dandelion bouquets this year. She told me she had decided to give them to me this year and will teach Bella to get them next year, and then with all the grands,  I should always have dandelion bouquets...if I don't tell the grands they are weeds. (I never have).

I won't.

I promised never to tell a grandchild their dandelion gifts are really, "just weeds."

Afternoon Walk

While down days have their place - Stacia and I wanted to get OUT. We went for a walk.  It turned out to be a much longer walk than we expected - but we loved it.  Yuuki is TERRIBLE the first time she walks a new route - must smell EVERYTHING. She did enjoy the walk too....

We discovered it is 1.3 miles from our RV Park to the home we are hoping to buy......Already loving that mountain.

We walked to the END of the road.....discovered it is .67 miles to the mailbox ...ONE WAY.  I may need to buy a snow machine to get the mail in the winter. 😏⛄πŸ˜‰

We noted several gardens. Greenhouses seem to be useful AND the fences were NOT 10 feet tall...but all ARE fenced.  A few houses from us we saw THIS - proof that chickens will be acceptable in the neighborhood......as we walked further we heard roosters crowing so maybe we can buy a rooster after all. πŸ“πŸ”πŸ£

We had a great talk as we walked. Stacia is interested in farming and is thinking of an agricultural school/degree post high school.  She thinks she may need to find a school in Alaska so she knows how to farm HERE because it is probably different than in TX. Smart girl.  She is planning for us to have a big enough garden to take produce to farmer's markets to sell.  I'm thinking we'll spend the winter planning and plotting and not actually put a garden in this late in the year.