Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to
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 reluctantly
I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly 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.
“But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few blocks,”
Carolyn said. ”I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”
“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
with an arrow that read, ” Daffodil Garden.” We got out of the car, each
took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we
turned a corner, 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
over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were
planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep
orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter
yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that
it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There
were five acres of flowers.
“Who did this?” I asked Carolyn.
“Just one woman,” Carolyn answered. ”She lives on the property. That’s
her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and
modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the
house.
On the patio, we saw a poster headlined:
“Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”
1. “50,000 bulbs,”
2. “One at a time, by one woman.
Two hands, two feet, and one brain.”
3. “Began in 1958.”
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
mountain top. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown
woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time,
she had created something of extraordinary 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 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 thirty-five or forty
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 today,” she said.
She was right. 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?”
Use the Daffodil Principle. 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 clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
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.
Dance like no one’s watching.
(thats what I did exactly) 
