For what it's worth

Ella, nearly six, is an amazingly creative child.  She could entertain herself for hours with the gifts that her mind has given her.  She puts thoughts (and clothes) together that are outside of the box, and she loves the beauty that surrounds her life.  She finds great joy in the petals of a flower, and because of this she gifts them to others.  A few months ago she earned two dollars that she was allowed to spend on whatever she wanted.  She bypassed the candy aisle at the grocery store and headed straight for the floral department.  She chose a delicate white rose with light pink edges.  The rose graced her room until it was good and dead.  The petals dry and crunchy had fallen off and there was a mysterious gray fuzz growing in the water.  She was completely sad when it disappeared from her room while she was at school.
 

Every season finds my kitchen adorned with various groupings of nature that are brought indoors by my sweet little girl.  I find stray acorns, odd pine cones, loose branches with green berries, rocks with fossils and her favorite, flowers.  Bright yellow dandelions are treasured the same as soft velvet roses, richly scented hyacinths liked no better than creamy colored clover.   They are on an equal playing field in the eyes of Ella Rose.  She brings them to me in large fistfuls with the roots hanging haphazardly.

The other day, as I was heading to the check out of the grocery store I passed a display of fresh cut flowers.   As I looked at the flowers popping their pinks and purples and greens they spoke to me.   I suddenly understood that they also speak to her every time she sees them.  Calling her name, filling her soul.  What I would normally view as a waste of money suddenly seemed like an irreplaceable gift.  As I put the bouquet in the cart she curiously looked up at me with a gaping grin.  "For you Ella Rose, they're for you."

Beauty and value are in the eye of the beholder, sometimes we just have to change our viewpoint.