Daffodil Memories

Daffodils.....by William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. Daffodils always remind me of my mother and her birthday in March. Daffodils were Mom's favorite flower. When she was sick in the hospital in the spring of my 9th year, I brought a bouquet of daffodils I picked from our yard when I was able to visit Mom. We were able to go out on the hospital grounds and have a picnic. Mom was quiet and subdued, but the daffodils made her give us a Mona Lisa smile. Mom was big on Easter finery. My brother Al and I would get all dressed up for Easter - he in a suit and me in a frilly dress, white gloves, and a little hat. Dad got out the movie camera and Al & I would swoon over each other, over-acting like we were in a silent romance movie. Mom had a great fashion sense and had the body of a model. She could wear knit pants in a horizontal stripe and still look great. One Easter she wore totally black and white when most women were wearing their spring pastels. That year Mom had a new white hat with a wide brim. When we went outside, the wind gusted and blew her hat off. It looked like a white pie pan rolling down the street. By the time she caught up to it, the brim was soiled and she wouldn't wear it. It ruined her ensemble, but Al and I thought her hat rolling down the street was great fun.