Yesterday was an exciting day for me–besides all the fun and fireworks of the Fourth of July, my gladiolus started to bloom!  Glads are my favorite flower.  My grandma always grew them and when I was a child, it was just one of the keynotes of summer to see a vase of glads in her kitchen–always a mix of gorgeous red, pink, yellow, peach, and white.  As a child, I never knew the flower’s real name was gladiolus–I just thought they were glads.  It made sense to me that a beautiful, stalky, strong flower with so many buds would be called glad.  They are the happy flower.

     As children, it comes naturally to us to take joy in the small things–watching a squirel chase in a tree, seeing a berry while walking through the woods, looking at the moon.  Somehow, as we become adults, we laugh less, notice less and become much harder to impress.  I am learning again to take joy in the small things, and they no longer seem like small things.  This morning, as I was wiping dishes, I remembered how much I enjoyed doing dishes at my grandma’s when I was a little girl.  Our family had a dishwasher, so doing dishes by hand was a novelty.  I liked the warm water and seeing the bubbles in the sink sparkle. 

     This summer, I have marked some special days with the first vegetable from the garden, the first bulb to bloom, seeing lightening bugs, and just sitting outside.  I especially love the times when I am outside after dark and am blessed with an owl-sighting.  I love owls, and I never used to see them when I lived closer to town.  So in light of all of this, I will continue to call my favorite flower glads, rather than gladiolus as a reminder that just like the flower, I want to “cultivate my glads” by finding simple things every day to take pleasure in. 

Nature in action!