What I Saw in the Garden!

What I saw - actually, Violet saw them first - were the daffodils in the picture below. Violet had planted them last year and forgotten about them. This year they popped up as a beautiful surprise! 

In addition to being a cheery sign that spring is here, daffodils also have a special place in our marriage. 

Way back when we were first married, I was a penny-pincher. (Ok, might as well come clean: I was a certified, card-carrying “Cheapskate!” There, I said it!) I wouldn’t buy flowers if my life depended on it. I might - might - buy a plant, because I could convince myself that a plant had a chance to be a “gift that keeps on giving.” Flowers? They’ll be dead in three days. Made no sense to me to spend money on something that I knew was only going to last three days. (Don’t ask me how many boxes of Little Debbie Snack Cakes I’d buy every week - snack cakes that had little chance of lasting even 5 minutes after I’d get them home!)

Anyway, we lived in The Cities, when we were first married, and there was a grocery chain there at the time named Rainbow Foods. Rainbow’s weekly ad always featured some item they would give away for free. Well, one week the freebie was daffodils. Free is a very good price for flowers, so I stopped on my way home and picked up a bunch of FREE daffodils and proudly presented them to my bride. Violet was thrilled ... until she saw the Rainbow Foods ad in the paper! It’s a testament to Violet’s character that she didn’t pack her bags and walk out on me that very minute.

Those daffodils that popped up in our garden last week reminded me of a lot more than “Spring is here!” They are a bright and sunny reminder of my beautiful wife and just how forgiving she is! Thank God for Violet, daffodils, and the ability to look back and laugh at things that weren’t terribly funny at the time!