Call me wishy-washy, but I've always had a hard time picking favorites. Maybe I just over-analyze things, but I always end up thinking of the variables involved. When someone asks me "What's your favorite color?" I'm thinking, for what? To wear? okay, black or dark blue. To look at? purple. In the natural world? that aqua-turquoise you can see in tropical seas. To decorate? Well, you get the picture. There are just so many options out there. Don't get me started on things like my favorite animal or flavor of ice cream. (So far, I don't think I've come across any flavors of ice cream I didn't like.) 
One of the exceptions to my undecided nature, is when it comes to flowers. I think I can safely say I LOVE daffodils. They are my favorite flower. I love the scent of jasmine, and the beauty of a rose, but daffodils are at the top of the list. They start to appear in late winter or early spring and their big sunny yellow flowers remind me that summer is only a season or so away. They make me feel hopeful for the warmth of days to come. They are my happy flowers. The best part is that when I buy them, they are all closed up and I can practically watch them bloom before my eyes.
Yesterday morning I bought these. They were selling three bunches for $5.00 (another plus, not very expensive.) I took pictures of them throughout the day so I could really show how the flowers open up. I wish I had one of those time-lapse cameras. It would be amazing. All of the photos were taken about two or three hours apart, and the last one was taken this morning. They usually last about a week, and while they sit on my table, it makes the whole room feel lighter.
While I was preparing for this blog post, I was thinking that maybe there's a "Daffodil Day". I mean, why not? They have National Pancake Day and stuff like that. So I looked it up, and as a matter of fact there are "Daffodil DayS". It's actually a period of time where the American Cancer Society (as well as other Cancer organizations around the world) give out daffodils with the hopes of raising awareness and support in the field of Cancer research. They explain it better at http://daffodil.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=DD_FY11_Findanevent if you want to check it out.
As I read the article I thought it was cool that they described the donations made at this time "Gifts of Hope", because, like I said, daffodils seem to send a message of hope for the summer. In this case it would be hope for the future. I really didn't start this article thinking this is how it would end up. I just thought it would be a nice little article about my favorite flower. I guess you just never know how things will turn out sometimes. Sometimes it's all about pretty flowers, sometimes not. I've lost too many friends and family members to cancer. My favorite flower has an even better reason to my my favorite now. Hope your days are filled with Daffodils, or if not, with hope.
Caren E. Salas
photos by Caren E. Salas
