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SALT LAKE CITY — I pushed my squeaky cart through the crowded nursery. It seems I wasn’t the only one who wanted to buy garden flowers for Mother’s Day.
My cart was full of petunias — just like it was last year and the year before. I don’t know much about flowers and don’t have a good track record of keeping them alive. Petunias seem safe. But I push my cart in and out of greenhouses anyway, just in case I change my mind.
But I couldn’t concentrate very well on flower selection. It seems the only thing I could focus on was the “ekk, ekk, ekk” coming from my plastic cart each time the front wheels made a revolution.
Thankfully my squeaky cart didn’t seem to stop anyone else. People were busily reaching for marigolds or ivy geraniums. Choosing flowers must be serious business; the other shoppers were so focused they didn’t even notice the little girl under their feet.
I’m not sure how long she had been there. It took me a minute to notice her too. I probably wouldn't have noticed her at all if I hadn't stopped to try and adjust those seriously squeeky wheels.
I don’t think I’d recognize the little girl again if I saw her. She was hunched over, squatting on the ground, a table full of daisies above her.
While the shoppers were looking above the tables, envisioning how each pony pack of flowers would look lining their garden or in their hanging basket, this little girl saw what others around her missed.
Under each greenhouse table were broken flower stems with delicate petals in all different colors and all different varieties. An abundance of discarded beauty.
This little girl had collected quite the bouquet, and her little hand was struggling to hold on to all of the stems. All because she noticed what others were too busy to see — bouquets and bouquets of beautiful flowers all over the ground.
You can’t take time to smell the roses if you don’t even notice them — and quite often they’re not where you would think to look.
The little girl got me thinking, what would I notice if I took a minute and looked at the places in life others were too busy to care about? What would I see?
The beautiful eyelashes on my child’s face? I always look past the eyelashes.
A neighbor struggling to keep up on yard work? Maybe he could use my help.
Or would I notice that my friend hasn’t called in a while? If so, perhaps I'd call her just to make sure she is OK.
I know I’m offering a reminder here. I’m certainly not the first to suggest we slow down and appreciate the smaller things in life. And I could probably point out that everyone who went to buy something got exactly what they were looking for, while the little girl got something great for free.
But sometimes it takes reminders. Reminders in the form of squeeky wheels and little girls.
If I take time to stop and stoop down, I just might find bouquets and bouquets of flowers too. At least the figurative type.
Nicole and her husband are raising four children, 7 years and younger, including twin boys. She is a communication consultant, writer and speaker. For more from Nicole, visit her blog at www.MyEverythingElse.com.
