Dandelions are Beautiful
Amazing stories emerge when you ask an audience to talk about their connections to dandelions. Anyone living in regions where distinct seasons are prevalent knows that spring welcomes all sorts of visual goodies. For me, the most welcomed sign of spring is the dandelion. For starters, they are yellow! Some people loathe them as unsightly weeds in their yards, but I think they are beautiful. Have you ever looked closely at a dandelion? Their petals are delicate and feminine and their leaves are rugged and masculine. It’s almost like boy meets girl in the most magical of ways. Quite opposite each other, their qualities come together like a majestic burst of golden sunshine. And just when you think their whimsy is over, another amazing spectacle is created. The next generation emerges as a perfect sphere of seeds and downy, white fluff just waiting to be carried off by a gentle breeze to begin anew somewhere far, far away. I think it’s almost impossible to pick a dandelion puffball without first making a wish that will drift away with the winds of time.
Connections Create Memories
Earlier this year I decided to pick a theme each month and focus my social media and blog posts accordingly. May was an easy choice because of my love for dandelions. However, I wanted my blog to drift a little off base from traditional blogs offering facts and recipes. On a whim, I asked this simple question of my Facebook page: What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of dandelions? The response was unbelievable! So many shared their stories. It didn’t matter if they liked dandelions or not because each response was attached to a memory, funny anecdote, or touching story. My takeaway from reading the comments and stories is that connections of any kind are vital because they create memories.
Every Dandelion has a Story
So, what kind of stories and anecdotes am I referring to? Some were simple and nostalgic bringing me back to my own childhood memories. Who remembers putting dandelions or buttercups under someone’s chin to see if they liked butter? Maybe I am dating myself but who didn’t play the silly game of snapping off the dandelion while chanting: Mama had a baby and its head popped off? As an adult that sounds morbid but heck, we were kids and it was something to do. We mustn’t forget yellow-stained fingers from picking our mom the best bouquet ever or making crowns to wear on our head to prance around like we were all that. Whether you were a flower girl or a king, we wore it with style and grace.
Some comments made me laugh. A mother reminisced about a funny story with each of her sons. One would crawl in the grass until he found a dandelion to jam up his nose. Her other son thought it would be nice to make his white puppy yellow like the rest of its litter mates by rubbing dandelions all over it. Seems like a logical thing to do, right? I can picture it now!
Other stories were touching such as the woman who wrote about one of her earliest memories after being adopted. She recalled a photo that was taken the day she got her first bike. All legs and sporting pigtails, she was captured making a wish while blowing a dandelion fluff. I think it’s safe to say that wishes do come true!
Another woman’s memory tugged at my heart strings as she shared this quote engraved on her sister’s grave: “What we have is held together as tenuously as the white fluff around the head of a dandelion.” What a tender memory reminding us of how fragile life can be.
A splattering of people mentioned parents or grandparents making dandelion wine, tea, coffee, or picking the greens to be used in salad. Using dandelions for food, medicine, or skin care is near and dear to my heart but that is a blog for another time. Stay tuned for more!
Be Like a Dandelion
I’d like to thank everyone for giving me the material to write about something ordinary in an extraordinary way. Our lives appear to be so separate on the outside but when you dig a little, it’s comforting to discover that there is a bit of dandelion in each of us. We all integrate our feminine and masculine sides to bring out the best in ourselves. We may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we serve a purpose in the circle of life by providing joy, beauty, and resources to those who value our worth. Like dandelions, we thrive when conditions are right yet remain resilient when they are not. We grow our roots strong and deep to weather out life’s storms and as we age, we transform ourselves into well-rounded individuals possessing the seeds of wisdom to be scattered upon future generations. Dandelions are beautiful, and so are you my friends.