Dandelion

DANDELION

Standing in the fields
Where the dandelions grow
Contemplating how
Your life will go

Watching you pick
For the very first time
The flower that makes
Your face shine

slowly with caution
You doth blow
Into the wind
The rays do flow

As the rays go
Into the sky
I watch you ponder
this new wonder

And as I watch
It comes to me
That one day
I will see
You fly away
Into the world
On the breath of wisdom
That was unfurled
By those around
And me for one
Into the horizon
My beautiful dandelion
-Shiidon, June 2008

One day, while Winrik was napping with his mother, Shervin and I took a walk from our apartment to his Uncle Shahrom's house which was not far. I took my camera (not digital) and was able to take some shots. This one in particular has been in my mind for a very long time. I have loved it very much and think about that day with him often. Shervin said "Daddy" once when he was 11 months old. After that he did not speak another understandable word until he was four years old. Because of the lack of speaking we communicated on a much deeper level. We bonded this particular day when I showed him his first dandelion. This photo was taken February 13th, 1992.

I am watching these children, mine and their close friends, and seeing them begin to take off on the winds of life. I see them as the rays of a dandelion being blown into the winds of life. They are our trust. Cat's in the Cradle was a song that I listened to when I was younger. I vowed to not allow myself to take for granted my children as they were growing up. I took advantage of each and every moment that I could and still do. One problem with teenagers is that they do not want to hold your hand anymore. In the case of girls, they want you to take them to the mall, but God forbid you go with them. So, when the moment comes and they want to cry on your shoulder or come in and interrupt something you are doing, remember what is more important, the child or you. Never put off for tomorrow something that can be done today, tomorrow may never come.