A Grandmother's Silent Pain

I remember when I was about 6 years old or so, while spending time with my Grandma, I plucked several of her long awaited Hydrangea blooms and adorned my hair with them. Grandma and I walked next door and visited a neighbor, Mr. Green, as I recall was his name, and I remember him commenting,"What a pretty little girl." I was too young to understand that Grandma, or anyone for that matter, who loves flowers, cherished the long awaited beautiful flowers blooming, from season to season.And for a flowers lover, the blooming seasons are always way to short and far between.Grandma loved her flowers, and I am sure that's where I inherited my love for them, as well. Mom never cared a lot about flowers, not near as much as Grandma anyway, although she does have several now that she is older and doesn't have nine children to watch over any longer.But the silent pain that I speak of today is my own. I wait impatiently from season to season to see all the wonderful colors that spring flowers bring to my yard, and as you get older, that is a long wait.The daffodils are the first to bloom in my yard, and I kept the 5 year old Grandson,John, for a couple of days this week, and I am sure you can imagine the rest of the story. We returned from my sister, Mary's, where we had all been helping her finish up the building of her barn, and as soon as John's feet hit the ground,he was in the flower bed. He asked if he could pick some flowers, and I told him, "Yes, we'll put them in some water in a vase.They'll be pretty on the table."I proceeded to feed the chickens, and when I got back to the yard, there was a blanket of yellow blooms all around him. I said,"Oh no, John, what are you doing?" His reply was,"I like the green grass part,Meemaw, but not the yellow." I think he must have remembered plucking dandelions from some other yard adventure in the past, and was confusing daffodils with the pesty dandelions. At least that was what I hoping he had done.He asked me,"Meemaw, are you mad?" I said No, of course, and explained that he would know better, next time to just pick a few and leave a long stem on them so they can drink the water from the vase.That way they will stay pretty longer. The children are learning the way of things gradually and it is exciting for me to watch them grow and learn from the time they spend with me. I guess is it more exciting for me to experience it all with the two grandchildren,since I never had natural children of my own to experience the up-close growing and learning process of a child.
Happy Spring to Everyone in Blogland!