For high school graduation, my daughter and two friends decided to have a party together using sunflowers as the theme. If you’ve been a Glimsen reader for any length of time, you know that I love flowers. And although I haven’t done much flower arranging for other people, I figured I could handle it for the girls’ party.
As that day approached, I started wondering why I had ever volunteered. What was I thinking? What if I messed up and embarrassed my daughter? What if I killed the flowers? I mean, did you see my post on the terrible tulips? (If you want a good laugh, click here.)
One of my friends gave me some great advice—to order my flowers wholesale through Sam’s Club, I did it, and I worried. Would they actually arrive in time? What sort of condition would they be in? What if they were dead? It would be too late to order more. I admit, I obsessed.
But the sunflowers arrived on time, in two long cardboard boxes, with wet stems, just like they were supposed to. They looked all right. I followed the instructions online: cut the stems, put them in buckets of water in a cool, darkish place. They survived. Whew.
Two days later, my friend Nancy came over and showed me how to cut them to different lengths based on the height of the vase. She tucked in some greenery from her own yard. Within about two hours, we had three large arrangements and six small ones.
Sunflowers had never been my favorite, but they were sunny, cheery, and bright—just right for my daughter’s graduation party.
That summer, our family visited some sunflower fields on vacation. Wow. I saw those flowers in a new light. Early-morning sunlight poured down on row after row of just-opened blooms. Every yellow bloom stood at attention, facing the sun.
As we stood staring in awe, the fields, the light, the day turned golden.
I will never, ever forget that sight.
Now, four years later, my daughter has graduated college, and last week, I visited her in NY where she lives. It’s a busy, noisy, crowded urban setting, and every time I go, I am surprised by the beauty there. But the concrete, grit and grunge seems to make it stand out even more.
On Wednesday, in all our walking, shopping, and eating, we passed no less than five shops with flowers out front. Including these.
It reminded me of four years ago and vases filled with sunflowers at the party and fields of tall green stalks supporting plate-sized blooms.
It reminded me, also, that those flowers, whether in vases, fields, or a flower stall, look for light and face it. They soak it in and let it nourish them.
Look for the Light and follow it. Follow it, and there you will find Life.
It’s a Truth that is timeless, whether for sunflowers or for me and you.
