I can't tell you how many things I love about spring. The promise of warmer temperatures, the time I get to spend with my kids during their week-long break, the bounty of blooms on the trees and sprouting from the ground, the bright little weed that litters yards. THAT'S RIGHT! I love the weed that lawn manicurists everywhere loathe. The dandellion. Those little cirlcles of sunshine are covering lawns across the country right now. Even better, the perfect spheres of snowy seeds are calling little ones to make a wish. Of course, I haven't always thought of these "weeds" as my favorite wild flower. My love of the dandellion is a newly created one.
I love pulling up to pick my son up from school. He's standing in line looking anxiously for HIS mom. The second he spots me, he gets this huge smile across his face. He starts waving the sweetest little wave. Then he calls to his teacher, "I see my mom!" I love the fact that he can be away from me for 3 hours and 45 minutes and he gives me a reaction that I would expect after a week-long separation. I push the button that opens the door for him on my Mom-Mobile, he hops in, slides in between the two front seats and slips a beautiful yellow flower in my drink holder. He goes back and gets buckled. For some reason I don't think he knows that he just made my day. Or maybe he does. And maybe that's why, when I arrive early to pick him up and get to watch him make the walk from the playground to the car line, I see him step out of line (breaking the rules) to grab the first dandellion he sees. Sometimes he throws it down and pursues one he sees a little further away. I can only imagine that he must think it is better than the first one he chose. Sometimes he even gives me two or three. Who would have thought that I wouldn't be awaiting roses or orchids from a man, but rather the gift of a weed from a boy? As if I needed one, it's just one more reason to love this time of year.
We were walking out of Rin's preschool the other day and Nolan stopped amongst a spot of grass overflowing with dandellions. He told his baby sister to come pick some for mom. She picks a few pansies (oops!) then heads to help her brother make a bouquet. We load up in the car and they both put their flowers in my drink holder. Nolan says, "Here Mom. Here are some flowers. I wanted to give them to you because that's what I always do. How about we put them in some water and make them grow?" I couldn't help but smile and tell him that I would do that as soon as we got home. I also took a moment to tell him how sweet he is and how much it means to me that he cares about me enough to bring me flowers. "Yep, I do" he says. "I love my sweet mom." And there you have it. For all the things the dandellions don't say, the boy does.
