By Toni O’Keeffe
Once upon a time there were three little bulbs planted side-by-side in a magnificent garden.
Slowly they began to wake. Their shoots began to break through the earth. Two of the bulbs were tulips, the other, a daffodil.
As they began to grow, the tulips turned to the daffodil and said “Your stem is too thin you must make it thicker to look like ours.”
The little daffodil tried to make her stem the same thickness as the tulips. She couldn’t and she became sad.
As the petals begin to develop on each of the flowers the tulips looked to the daffodil again and said, “No, your petals must be red.”
The little yellow daffodil tried to make her petals red, but she couldn’t, and she felt even worse about herself. She didn’t understand why she was different.
The tulips demanded that her petals be wider and turn upward like theirs but the little daffodils petals reached outward and resembled the sun, beautiful and yellow.
As the three bulbs grew the tulips ignored the little daffodil because she was not like them.
One warm spring day a little girl wearing a Santa hat came up to smell the daffodil.
“Why am I different,” the daffodil asked the little girl, “Why can’t I be like them?”
“You’re not supposed to be like them.
You’re supposed to be like you. The garden would be boring and plain if all the flowers looked the same. I think you’re beautiful as you are, that’s why I choose to come over and gaze at you.”
This made the little daffodil smile. She now felt proud and happy that she was different.
You, me, each of us, can only grow into whom we’re meant to be. Love the bits of yourself that resemble nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Yes, even your weird beautiful bits.
Toni O’K~ 🌹 ❤️
The Whimsey Angel 