A few weeks ago, in the height of dandelion season, I thought I saw a buttercup.
No, I don’t mean a porcelain cup with the intention of being used for butter. I mean the bright cheery happy yellow flower.
I was saddened when I realized that, no, it was just another dandelion. But it brought back memories of my sister and I running around the yard, picking the little shiny yellow flowers and holding them up to our chins. “Do you like butter?” we’d say as we did so. The myth seemed to always favor my sister for liking butter, which I thought was odd because I loved the stuff. (You only had to see my bread on pasta nights to know just how much.)
Then last week, I really did see a plant I haven’t seen in ages. Cattails!
The cattails in the town I grew up in had all been choked out by purple lustrife (sp?) when I was still in elementary school. The last cattail I saw must have been around third grade. So to see cattails on my way to work was very exciting. I should have taken a picture.
And then, last weekend while I was visiting my parents, I finally saw my first buttercup of the season. Buttercups, indian paintbrushes, some bright purple flower that I don’t remember the name of, and clover. Clover with flowers! Which of course, reminded me that I found a four leaf clover the week prior while watching my babysitting charge.
It feels so good to know that these things I haven’t seen in ages still exist in this world. They’re still here. While the world continues to turn and changes continue to happen, some of these things I thought were gone were quietly surviving.
And every time I drive to work now, I appreciate those cattails, and the grass that’s grown up to two feet next to the road. Watching nature encroach on the human civilization that has pushed it back for so long, it seems to fit in perfectly. It has not completely overgrown its boarders. It has managed to make everything look blended in. And it’s beautiful.
And there was a painted turtle in my road when I got home.