Reminds me of piecing quilts so maybe not so OT.
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say,
"Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before
they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour
drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next
Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy Still, I had
promised, and reluctantly I drove there.
When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was
welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I
delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is
invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is
nothing in the world except you and these children
that I want to see badly enough to drive another
inch!"
My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in
this all the time, Mother."
"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it
clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.
"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to
pick up my car." "How far will we have to drive?"
"Oh...just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "But I'll
drive. I'm used to this."
After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we
going? This isn't the way to the garage!"
"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn
smiled, "by way of the daffodils."
"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."
"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never
forgive yourself if you miss this experience."
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small
gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side
of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an
arrow the at read, "Daffodil Garden."
We got out of the car, each took a child's hand,
and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we
turned a corner, I looked up and gasped.
Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked
as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and
poured it over the mountain peak and it's surrounding
slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling
patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange,
creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron
and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was
planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed
like its own river with its own unique hue. There were
five acres of flowers.
"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman,"
Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's
her home." Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame
house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all
that glory.
We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a
poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are
Asking" was the deadline. The first answer was a
simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer
was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two
feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in
1958."For me, that moment was a life-changing
experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never
met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one
bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy
to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a
time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever
changed the world in which she lived. One day at a
time, she had created something of extraordinary
magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
The principle her daffodil garden taught is one
of the greatest principles of celebration. That is,
learning to move toward our goals and desires one step
at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and
learning to love the doing, learning to use the
accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of
time with small increments of daily effort, we too
will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can
change the world.
"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn.
"What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a
wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had
worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all
those years? Just think what I might have been able to
achieve!"
My daughter summed up the message of the day in
her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said
She was right. It's so pointless to think of the
lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a
lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is
to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"
Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die....
There is no better time than right now to be
happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So
work like you don't need money, Love like you've never
been hurt, and Dance like no one's watching.
Go ahead, plan your dream.........