The May Day Basket of Iris's

A couple of weeks ago Lynda and I decided to take a class being offered at Collage called Representational Collage - Floral. We were told to bring a picture or pictures of our favorite flowers. I decided to bring a picture of the flowers that Cliff had just given me.



Told it would probably work out better to just start with a single flower, I chose one of the instructors...an Iris.



Listening to our instructor we both began our masterpieces.






And while creating our masterpieces, I began to tell Lynda the story of why I love iris's so much.

It was May 1st and I was in the 4th Grade. Coming home from school with my May Day basket of flowers I had made for my mother, I noticed these wonderful tall purple flowers across from our house. Even though they were in other people's yards, I decided to pick a couple of them and make May Day baskets for the two houses that had elderly ladies living in them. I remember sneaking up to pick the flowers and hurrying back to my house to make a paper basket to hold them. I then went back out, left them on their porches, rang their doorbell and ran.

Well.....both houses paid a visit to my house when my Mom got home from work that night. The first house told my mother how awful it was that I had picked some of her flowers. The second house told my mother what a touching and thoughtful action I had performed (because even though this lady was in her 60's, her mother in her 90's lived there and received this May Day basket). That moment held a life lesson for me.





So everytime I see an Iris, I remember back to that day. And I remember those two totally different takes on the same situation. There has never been a flower in my yard that was too beautiful that a child could not pick it. Iris's will bloom again, a child's spirit may not.