Monday, March 23, 2009

for cynthia























When my daughter was little, and I would fetch her from pre-school, she would proudly run to me with her latest creation and tell me all about it.  One of the projects that she made was to take a branch and wad yellow bits of tissue and glue them on to learn about this spring plant.  I know I saved it in a big box. 

She told me it was called "For Cynthia" - which I loved how she made perfect sense of what she heard from her teacher telling her that is was "Forsythia."  Our walk home would consist of "forcynthia" spottings and the awakening of spring.  It is the times that we allow ourself to stop or to see things from another's perspective that our eyes are suddenly open to see.

To those of you in the thick of raising wee one's or in the hopes of imagining spring, now is the time to look around, observe, contemplate all the glory in store.  The forsythia is not yet in bloom (here) and I thank the kind soul for allowing me to borrow this photo of "faux forsythia."  I am somewhat of a purist and enjoy the real thing, but in desperate measures I can bring in some "faux" to garner spring and little memories.

27 comments:

erin said...

Such a nice thought and touching moment in child rearing. Must make you smile every time you think of or see 'For Cynthia' Now I probably will too. Thanks!

Debra said...

I too will think of those first yellow buds as "ForCynthia" now!
I have written down some of the words used by my son and have it tucked away in a special place.

heidi said...

that's adorable!!! Happy Spring! xoh

Joyce said...

Oh how sweet! Out of the mouths of babes. Have a golden one!

Emily said...

I love it! That sounds like my daughter who is almost 4 years old. I love the way these children perceive things. The little buds are starting to appear on our trees in Chicagoland, and I'm waiting to see my tulips blossom. Lovely Spring!

ArchitectDesign™ said...

Break out your daughter's version of it! LOL @ for cynthia -thats great!

P.Gaye Tapp at Little Augury said...

I love for cynthia yellow. My favorite yellow-in fact my only yellow-dafs of course. A beautiful memory to share again and again- thanks for sharing with all. Something is coming your way! G

Kwana said...

I will never think of it the same way again. The flower will forever be "Fir Cynthia" to me now and so much more special.

Anonymous said...

Yes another quote :) ... THANX to my Photographic Memory.

"A life-long blessing for children is to fill them with warm memories of times together. Happy memories become treasures in the heart to pull out on the tough days of adulthood".

LindsB said...

Aw, that is so cute, what a sweet memory of your daughter- I love it!

Mary said...

such a darling post - I will always refer to my long row of yellow as "for cynthia" from now on....thanks for the sunshine.

Karena said...

Lovely remembrance of yor daughter. I have a sister named Cynthia ,so perhaps I will paint her a rendering of For Cynthia!

Formerly known as Frau said...

OMG I can never remember what they are called yeah I will never forget. Cute story!

High-Heeled Foot in the door said...

What a sweet story. I think that it is so cute. For cynthia...totally makes sense to me as well.

Things That Inspire said...

I smiled in recognition of the theme of this story in my own life. Every time my husband or I hear one of these little interpretations of life from our girls, we write it down...and we always put one or two in the Christmas letter. Our friends and family comment that they look forward to reading the sweet views of the world through the eyes of a child.

Now that my girls are getting older, those little malapropisms are getting fewer and fewer. I feel a bit wistful now...I had not realized.

Leciawp said...

I too will now think of them as "ForCynthia".

Lauren said...

Awwwwww that's too funny. I am always so excited to see the forsythia blooming!!!!
xoxo

CashmereLibrarian said...

I remember walking my toddler son (now 23!) to daycare one spring. I pointed to a yard and said, "Look, Josh, tulips!" He looked at me questioningly and pointed to his lips. "Two lips, Mommy?" he asked.
So cute--I'll never forget it.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Our "For Cynthia" is flourishing, which is one of the best signals of Spring. Lovely post! And Happy Spring to you, Patricia!

Tara said...

Patricia

How cute! For Cynthia is certainly what it sounds like! They do bloom so nice and early! Thanks for sharing!

Purple Flowers said...

That is a very cute story. I hope you remind her of it when they come into bloom.

Deidra said...

A sweet story! Just this morning I discovered yellow blooms on my For Cynthia bush.

Unknown said...

Love this story, how children make sense of the world. Can't wait for spring to really spring here.

xo

My Notting Hill said...

Very sweet story. My son used to call a computer - pacuter and for my daughter called suncreen - scumscreem. It's become a family word we use when noone else is around - Where's the scumscreem!

erika said...

my "for cynthia" is in full bloom right now... makes me smile, just like this post!
XO
e

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

I can't wait 'til it's more than 20 degrees here so the For Cynthia actually starts to grow!! Or Laura will start to lose it. For Real. ;-)

I think I shall always call it For Cynthia now. How. Cute.

meg duerksen said...

i love that..."for Cynthia." precious memory.

now i want to make a paper branch with yellow tissue paper too.