"The Dandelion Story"
Julia A. Berg
The date was May of 2006. All week, I was bemoaning the fact that I would not receive my annual Mother's Day dandelion bouquet from Mike. I had gotten them every year since he was two--39 years now. I had cancer, chemotherapy, and was upbeat most of the time. But I was feeling sad about not being able to receive the dandelions.
Mike was in New Orleans with his water truck hauling water to fires. The devastation of Hurricane Katrina had Mike out of Michigan for almost nine months by the time Mother's Day 2006 came around.
I smiled as I remembered that the first years of receiving dandelions, Mike would just pull off the dandelion tops and I would float them in a vase. I always suggested--"long stems, Mike." And I would show him how to pick the stems instead of pulling off the tops. As the years went on, the stems were longer and longer and the vases were taller and taller.
Then the Saturday before Mother's Day 2006, there was a knock on our door. There stood the son of our local florist. He commented, "I sure do hope this order is correct. We never had anything like it before. My mother sent me out pick one dozen large dandelions with the longest stems I could find."
He then handed me "one dozen long stem large dandelions" in a delightful vase that said "I LOVE YOU". The message was from Mike who was still in New Orleans — and did not forget his mother on Mother's Day. I cried!
As I watched the dandelions in the vase, I noticed they were getting the beautiful second bloom as the dandelions went to seed. The second bloom was part "closed up dandelions" and part "dandelions going to seed". The third bloom was a dozen beautiful puffy, white, feathery blossoms. These were as beautiful as the yellow blooms.
With my digital camera, I took pictures as the seeds opened and called it the three stages of the dandelion bloom. How nice!
I sent the three pictures for Mike and Steve to look at and told them how pleased I was with my dandelions. A couple of weeks later, Steve came to Michriste for a visit. He brought us a beautifully framed picture with the three dandelion stages. We cried again! It is now hanging in our dining room and we tell the Dandelion Story over and over to our friends.
Mike even has our grandson, Alex, getting in on the act and giving me dandelions. In the springtime when the grounds are a bright bloom of yellow, I love it. Some folks would call this weeds. Not everyone enjoys the beauty of a dandelion as much as I do. Oh, what they are missing!
—4 January 2008
Three Stages of Dandelion Bloom
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