The
Daffodil Principle
Many times my
mother had telephoned to say, "Darling, you must come and see the daffodils before they wither away." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour
drive from Reading to Newport. "I will come next Monday, I promise." A reluctant reply after her fifth call in an hour.
Next Monday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there.
When I finally walked into my mother's house and hugged and greeted her along with my two younger sisters. I said, "forget the daffodils, mother!" A frown appeared on her face. "The road is now invisible in the fog, I barely managed to get here." "Poppycock, Mary my dear!" Mother speaking out in her usual direct way. "There is nothing in this world that I rather be with right now than drive another inch out there."
My mother smiled calmly and then said, "We drive in this all the time." I stood there in amazement for a moment. "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home… I assure you!"
Mother's answer. "I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car."
I stared across the room into oblivion. The words echoing on my mind, "did she hear what I just said?"
"Just a few blocks, I'll drive. I'm use to this." She said assertively.
We all got into my car and drove off. 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." Mother smiled. "By way of the daffodils."
"Mother!" I said sternly. "Please turn round!"
"It's all right, Mary, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience of a life time."
After about twenty minutes, we turned into a small gravel road and through a clearing I could see a quaint old church. On the far side of the church as we got closer, I could see a sign that read, "Daffodil Garden."
We all got out of the car, and we followed mother down a stony path. Then, we turned a corner round a greenery. I
looked up and gasped in a state of awe. Before me… lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over a mountain peak and its slippery slopes.
Flowers planted in majestic, swirling patterns -- great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different coloured variety was planted as a "group" so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue -- that makes up the five glorious acres of flowers… to vanish in.
"But who has done this?" I asked mother anxiously.
"It's just one woman, Mary dear"
"Oh." To my surprise.
"She lives on the land… that's her home over there."
Mother pointed to a well kept cottage that looked small and modest in the midst of all its glory. We walked up to the cottage in a casual sort of way. On the cobble path, we can see an advertising stand with a poster displaying the words, "Answers To Your Questions… I Know You Are Asking" is the printed headline.
The first
answer is a simple one. "100,000 bulbs," it reads.
The second answer is, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and a very lonely brain."
The third answer is, "Began in 1958."
There it is, The Daffodil Principle.
For me, the moment is 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 mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable) magnificent beauty and inspiration to all of us.
The principle of her daffodil garden taught us one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires at one step at a time. Often just one baby step at a time, learning to love the and understanding the use of 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. In fact, we can change the world forever.
"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to mother. "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 mother summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow!" She said directly.
"It's pointless to think of the lost hours of our 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?"
The moral of the story is, "Stop Waiting And Get On With It!"
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