Flowers and what is given

I think my favorite flower is yarrow. It comes in lots of different colors, but the first yarrow I met was white, and I learned, from the same person who helped me with earthworm trust, to distinguish it from Queen Anne’s Lace (which by the way has a purple flower in the center of all the white).  The different possible colors of yarrow remind me of the Speedo bathing suit I had when I was young. It had all sorts of flowers of different colors (see photo). In those days it was common to get a speedo that was a little big for you, which was the case for me, and so I tied a string to hold the back straps tighter so the top fit better, just like the many other girls. So I was maybe 9-11 years old when I wore it. I wasn’t on a swim team or anything like that, but felt cool wearing a Speedo like my friend who was on the swim team. She was a year older. She taught me lots of fun stuff, including how to do some different dives off the diving board and how to do cartwheels. When we spent a day at the beach we also hunted for sea glass, played lots games in the pool, and paddled out on inflatable rafts to the swim dock that was offshore and did some cannonballs off that. She once recommended ordering bacon with my egg salad sandwich, and it was awesome and is still among my top favorite sandwiches!  She enthusiastically introduced me to watermelon jolly ranchers, yum! We painted our nails with glitter nail polish one day, and she taught me to make colorful bracelets with telephone wire. She invited me to bike to the golf course near her house, at night in summer, and we did cart wheels on the putting green until the sprinklers came on. She was a wonderful positive friend, and I’m grateful for all the fun stuff she wanted to do with me. Friends like this are the best. When they suggest activities, they do it in a way that is like giving you a gift.

A gift giving person like this will never try to coerce you to do something they know is bad and then tell you not to tell anyone. A trauma person I mentioned (last post) coerced me to do something they were old enough to know was wrong to do with me. Then that person said “Don’t tell anyone”. Well I’ve told some people. That person stole from me when I still had to tie the straps of my bathing suit with a string. But I’m taking that back by rejoicing in what was and is given to me by people I trust and love, like that wonderful friend who taught me how to do cartwheels.