Ode to Daffodils

My favorite flower of all time is the daffodil.  Everything about the daffodil is lovely and happy. First and foremost, daffodils are yellow.  If yellow wasn't such an impractical color, I would choose it for just about everything.  Clothing, paint, furniture.  Unfortunately too much yellow can be a bad thing.  But never for flowers.  Driving down the freeway a couple of weeks ago I saw bunches of daffodils growing cheerfully along the shoulder.  As if to say, Hey gray freeway, we're here to add a splash of color!  

Daffodils just have a smiley name.  I dare you to say daffodil without showing some teeth!  And for those of you that are made of stone, perhaps you are more impressed by the other, more sophisticated name of the daffodil - jonquil.  I love the way it rolls of your tongue!  When I was a counselor at outdoor school I chose the name Daffodil.  Maybe it is because it is so close to Daffy (as in Duck) that the word evokes a feeling of glee.  

At the beginning of March, when the cold and the rain has settled deep into your bones and each gust of wind makes you begin to wonder if the sun will ever show itself again, sweet specks of yellow begin to emerge from the hard ground.  Their cheerful, bright heads are just what you need to hang on a few more weeks till Spring truly begins to show.  It is as if their trumpets all sound together and beckon the sun from hiding.  I always know we're almost there the day I first notice my friendly daffodils those lingering days of winter.

I only have one lonely daffodil in my yard (which I keep saying will change but I can never remember when you're supposed to plant bulbs until the window has passed) and I envy the displays in the yards around the neighborhood.  So today at the store, when I noticed them for sale, I bought two bunches.  They weren't nearly as happy in the store, all bunched up with their heads tightly closed, but I brought them home, put them in a vase and set them on the window sill.  Not even 5 minutes later my little champions of Spring and happiness started to perk up and stretch out in the sunshine.  Every time I glance at them in their sunbeam, I'm cheered. 

While Portland is going absolutely crazy enjoying the sunshine this April day, I pause to thank my friend the daffodil.  Thank you for giving us a little bit of hope weeks ago that yes, this day would come.