Subject: FW: Daffodils

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come see the daffodils before

they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

"I will come next Tuesday", I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned

cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house

and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible

in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see

bad enough to drive another inch!" My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time,

Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I

assured her.

"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car" "How far will we have to drive?"

"Just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this. 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,

" Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils." "Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."

"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.

" After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road, and I saw a small church.

On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out

of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a

corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as

though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes.

The flowers were 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. There

were five acres of flowers "But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn. "It's just one woman," Carolyn

answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame

house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house on the

patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You are asking" was the headline. The

first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by

one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain." Third answer was, "Began in 1958." There

it was, The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was 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 mountaintop. 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) magnificence,

beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles

of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often

just one baby-step at a time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the 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. We can change the world. "It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to

Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal 35 or 40 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 daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way.

"Start tomorrow," she said. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of 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?" So, stop waiting... Until your car or home is paid off Until you get a new car or

home Until your kids leave the house Until you go back to school Until you finish school Until you

lose 10 lbs. Until you gain 10 lbs. Until you get married Until you get a divorce Until you have kids

Until you retire Until summer Until spring Until winter Until fall Until you die There is no better

time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't

need money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one is watching.

If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special. I just did!