A Handful of Dandelions and Violets That Changed My Life Forever

by Jay Lewitt
(Kentwood, Michigan USA)

When I was only 15 my first love picked a whole bouquet of flowers for me on her walk home from school.

She picked dandelions and violets that first time.

I was so delighted when she shyly pulled them from behind her back.

That...

I forgot all about my nervousness and pulled her into our FIRST KISS together.

The next time we got together, we both had these beautiful, straggly bouquets of what I'd charitably call wildflowers.

Together we made
garlands of dandelions, Queen Anne's lace,
and little white flowers to wear in our hair...

We kept trying to outdo each other with our impromptu bouquets, snitching blooms from our mother's landscaping and stealing blossoms from window boxes.

Indulgent neighbors turned a blind eye on our petty theft of posies for three sweet years.

And...

Smiled at us as we'd walk around the neighborhood, hand in hand with their flowers in our hair.

This springtime
of our lives was never meant to last.

Shortly past her 18th birthday my beloved flower goddess was lost to all of us in a devastating crash.

Those first years afterwards I brought hand-picked flowers to her grave almost once a week.

When I moved away, I thought of sending flowers but somehow, the love just wasn't in the flowers themselves but in the impulsive gathering, the giggling, and the breathless kisses.

Now...

Because of my dear, first love, I'll always see a handful of dandelions as MORE romantic than the most perfect roses.