Last spring was D2’s families first in Kalamazoo, they had moved in the fall just before school began. GD1 was just 4 years old when they moved, and didn’t have a firm concept of places and their names. She knew the name of her old town and school, and learned the names of her new ones. She has always been familiar with car rides and how long they take. Several times on visits she has commented how long it takes to drive to my house.
At spring break time, I drove over to pick up some combination of the three grandchildren for a visit. I remember how GD1 had something very important to tell me, “There are yellow flowers all over the Kalamazoo!” And, indeed, she was correct. I remember when we helped Aunt Jane moved to a retirement residence in Kalamazoo, in the early 1990’s and she mentioned the same flowers. They were planted on the sides of the freeway, and all over other places.
I replied to GD2 that I had those flowers, too, and told her they were daffodils. She frowned, looked like she was trying to think very carefully, then told me, “No you don’t have them”. I explained that they only came out in the spring, just after the snow, and she had probably never been to my house just after the snow melted. She was unconvinced. When we drove up my street, she took a look and said, “I guess you do have them!”
Late last fall, D2’s family bought a house in Kalamazoo, and gladly and gratefully left the apartment that had served as their home for months. I would have given anything for some daffodil bulbs to plant at the new place, but there really weren’t flower beds, and we were moving, not planting.
Yesterday, when my first daffodil bloomed on the south side of our house yesterday, I thought of GD2 and her observations last spring. All three of of the kids will be here later this week, I wonder if she will remember the name of the yellow flowers? Will she still think they are so pretty? We’ll see.
