By: Jen Wainwright
They’re here. Fields of yellow, dancing about and decorating the lawns…
I love dandelions.
I know, people say, “They’re not flowers. They’re weeds. Ewwww…”
Look, I know they’re technically weeds, and rather invasive ones at that. But I’m a gardener, and I still love ‘em.
Not only are they downright, simply beautiful – I mean, when was the last time you actually looked at a dandelion? Really looked…at the tiny petals of impossibly-golden-yellow, formed together into a soft circle of sunshine. I read once that there isn’t a color around that nature didn’t do first and best…a brilliant, yellow dandelion speaks to that. And a whole field of them? I have so many pictures of my children in those gorgeous fields, smiling as brightly as the flowers around them.
And when one of my children spends time picking each of those dandelions – and presents me with a bouquet of pure love – I never one time have to say, “Get outta Mama’s flowers! Watch where you’re stepping!” Nope…dandelions are pure joy to receive, and they allow kids to be kids. Whatever, Chuckie Cheese. Where a kid can be a kid? 25-cent-fun my ass. But a field of dandelions – now that’s some entertainment I can get down with.
Damn I love them.
They’re hearty, too. Tell me you’ve never felt slightly sad at seeing them all mowed down, but woken up to another field of ‘em in the morning? Yes! Dandelions are tough like that.
And nobody knows how tough they truly are…than the folks who try their damnedest to rid their “perfectly green lawn” of those pesky “weeds”. Out there, spraying spot-by-spot, hunched over with a vat of chemicals in-hand…Can’t you just see the dandelion-killers?! Waking up in the morning, hands up on their heads when they see the survivor…and another one! Aghh!
I just love dandelions. And I have no real use for grass, I swear…well, you know, unless you can smoke it, I guess. Ha! Grass. Who decided we need these water-hogging patches of useless vegetation all around our houses, anyway?
Dandelions, I think, grow so beautifully and so heartily to remind us all…
Of the beauty of letting kids romp and play and pick and love some “flowers”. Free of worries. Free as can be.
And I think they grow to remind us how asinine and foolish we adults truly get as we grow older – all wound-up about some grass and pissed off about a weed messing up our need for perfection.
Strong, beautiful, sunny dandelions. Like little middle fingers to perfectly green, manicured lawns – the F U Flowers to “perfect”.
JEN’S ZEN
— Because the damn dishes are never done. Laundry is a cruel joke. And because children are beautiful lessons in Patience and Counting. 10, 9, 8, 7 Breathe…