Go with Unconventional
It must have been less than a year ago, April or so, when the child began begging me to get some daffodils for our yard. We were seeing their cheery yellow faces everywhere around our little town where more organized people than I had dutifully planted their bulbs in the late Fall and were now reaping the benefit of their effort. Did I mention that yellow is her favorite color? Did I mention that she is persistent? Did I mention that I have a hard time saying no to her when I don’t really have a good reason?
Daddy even said it was okay with him. How do you buy daffodils in mid- to late-Spring? I made a tour of every store I could think of that might have potted daffodils. The kind you buy as a hostess gift for Easter brunch…or whatever…but this was even a little late for that. Two nurseries, the drug store, and three grocery stores later I finally found a little pot of miniature daffodils. I wasn’t sure they were quite what she was after. The child was thrilled – which was a relief – and the flowers were placed with honor on my favorite flower mound in our yard. I was pretty certain they would wilt as soon as we put them in the ground, but they stayed perky for several weeks. I was certainly not planning to see them again this year. However, here they are, bravely popping their sunny yellow faces out to prove me wrong (again), and to remind me that doing things the other way around sometimes works better than the “regular” way.
In fact, I was so proud of myself for remembering to pick up some bulbs in the Fall this year. I thought it would be a great nature lesson for the kids to anticipate their sprouting all Winter. The child was so excited to help Daddy plant them. Not a one of them has shown up yet. Perhaps a gopher ate them. Perhaps they’re just on their way. Whatever…the textbook method has not worked nearly as well as the flying by the seat of the pants effort, at least in this case.
So tonight, after dark, I had to take the camera out and get a photo of these babies as a reminder to myself. They fit in so nicely with our quirky little family. So we do things a little differently around here. Look how happy we are, even in the dark.