story
by Janice Van Cleve
Let me tell you a story...
Once upon a time there was a little yellow flower petal named Dandelion. Her full name was Dandelion 232 because she shared the crown of the mother plant with 231 of her sisters. Dandelion was very happy. She basked in the sun with her siblings and gloried in her comfortable and easy life. Every night, Mother closed her green leaves around the petals to protect and shelter them.
One day there was a distinct chill in the air, and soon afterward Dandelion felt herself changing. Her lower half grew into a seed while her bright yellow petal transformed into a stem with a white parachute on top. This was strange, and she knew not what it meant. Yet she still felt the security of home. She shared the cozy flower crown with her sisters and Mother always closed her leaves around them at night.
One night, Mother did not close her leaves. The petals opened their parachutes and by the dawn, they had spread out into a great round puffball. A couple of them even blew away in the breeze! "I won't leave you, Mother!," cried Dandelion. Mother Plant tried to tell her little daughter what was happening, that this was part of the cycle of all things, but Dandelion would not listen. Next day the wind blew stronger and more of her sisters vanished. Terrified, little Dandelion pleaded, "Please, Mother, don't let go of me!" She held on with all her might, but the mother plant had died, and there was nothing left to hold onto. Another gust, and Dandelion was torn from her home and cast to the wind.
For many days Dandelion was blown about, tumbled around, and bumped into obstacles until her parachute and stem broke off. She lay on the ground bruised and sore and very much afraid. "I'm lost and alone," she wailed, "Woe is me. It cannot get any worse." Then along came a bird.
The bird was hungry. It spied Dandelion and pecked her. Before she knew it, she was swallowed down. "Oh no!," cried Dandelion, "this is much worse. At least on the ground I could still see the light. It's dark in here."
Several hours later the bird lightened its load and Dandelion found herself buried in a bird deposit. "This is it -- the absolute worst," sighed Dandelion. "I've been torn from my home, abandoned by my mother, abused, battered, and bitten, and now here I am, alone in a strange place and in deep poop!" So Dandelion relinquished all she had known and held dear. She resigned herself to what is and let go of what she wished it to be. She unclenched her grip on life itself and let it unfold as it would.
Time passed. After many months the Sun warmed the land again. The bird deposit had given Dandelion protection from the harshness of the winter and now it decomposed itself into nutrient for the soil. Dandelion felt stirring within her and her pod cracked. One long tendril extended itself down from her into the dirt. Another stretched upward into a stem and leaves sprouted from it. As the days grew warmer, Dandelion grew bigger. Soon she was a strong and healthy plant with a deep taproot and many leaves.
Summer came and Dandelion felt a new stirring. Up from her center grew a stalk. On that stalk grew a crown with many little petals. She opened her crown and there they were -- hundreds of little yellow petals basking in the sun. She fed them and they grew. She held them high so they could receive as much sun as possible. At night she closed her leaves around them in protective embrace. She was happy.
One day the air turned chill and Dandelion knew what was coming. She released the special hormone that triggered parachute formation and fed it to her daughters. She continued to protect them a long as she was able, but at last her leaves would not respond anymore. She recalled how once before she had let go of home and Mother and all that she had loved, and now she knew it was time to let go again. She remembered her mother's last words about the cycle of all things and she was prepared now for the next turning of the cycle.
The wind began to blow. One by one she felt her daughters plucked from her crown. She knew what they would face. One daughter clung to her tenaciously and said, "I won't leave you, mother!" And the mother said, "Dandelion, let me tell you a story..."
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