Learning the Truth

The other night my nieces, who are cousins,  had a sleepover at my house.  They like to stay in my basement as if  they were in their own apartment.  When I watch them it reminds me of when I was small. I use to turn our front porch into my kitchen with a little metal stove.  I would sweep with my very own broom and dustpan.  I love to watch as my older niece Gabby patiently does makeup and all of the girlie stuff that Emma loves to do.

At the beginning of each of our evenings together the girls and I set out to the store to a little shopping. This night we were looking for supplies for a craft project. As we drove we chatted about what’s new with everyone - when Emma with her deep voice, which reminds me of Great Garbo said, “Hey- Aunt Brenda guess want I learned today?”

 “What?” I asked.

 She continued with a sad look on her face… “Dandelions aren’t really flowers, they are weeds!” 

“Really” I asked, “who told you that?” 

“Grandpa” she replied.

“Well I think they are flowers,” I told her. 

“They aren’t”, she said softly as if she was the one who had to break the bad news to me.  “But” she added “Mom said I can call them flowers if I want to.” 

“Yes you can!” I added.

Wow, I thought to myself – this to her was like learning about Santa, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy!  Sometimes learning the truth isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The next day after the girls had gone home, Daisy and I (Daisy is my dog, that’s another story) were walking around the block.  As I looked at my garden at the tearoom I thought holy smokes will you look at all of the dandelions.  How am I going to get rid of all of them?  But, by the time we had made our way back around I had already decided to think of them as Emma would.  They aren’t weeds they’re bright yellow flowers blooming proudly!