Posy or Perish

It's a stifling hot day today in Adelaide. 42 degrees in November. The kind of day where you can feel your skin tightening as soon as you walk out the door. To make things worse, it's windy as hell. My allergies have gone crazy. I'm procrastinating like you wouldn't believe. This is not a great day.

Needless to say, I didn't feel like going for a run this morning. And I could tell my daughter wasn't exactly energetic either. So I made the decision early to drive which gave us some extra time. Time I could spend watering the garden so it at least has a chance of surviving the day.

My daughter came out to help. I noticed the sweet peas and picked one for her. They looked especially beautiful this morning and I knew they wouldn't stay that way for long. You should pick some for your teacher, I suggested. She agreed. We collected a posy of flowers, wrapped the stems in some alfoil as my mum and grandma would do, and took them with us to school.

I could see the look of pride on my daughter's face as she approached the teacher's desk who was already surrounded by a group of children. But she waited patiently. I stood back by the door as I hadn't said goodbye yet, and have been told off before about escaping too hastily in the past. So I waited. I too was patient.

I got distracted while I was waiting and tuned out for a while but my ears tuned back in when I heard an exclamation "Are they for me? Oh thank you so much". I looked up and saw the teacher blissfully inhale the heady scent of the sweet peas. "My dad used to grow these in our garden. I used to love smelling these". It was like she had been momentarily transported back to her childhood and had a sparkle in her eye. My daughter was thrilled. My heart was warmed. Much better than letting them perish in the garden on this hot spring day. That's the thing about kindness I think. It doesn't take much effort at all.