In Ancient Greece, sunflowers represented adoration and loyalty. The Chinese associated the flower with a long and prosperous life. Native Americans saw sunflowers as an omen for a fruitful and bountiful harvest. As for me, when I look at the bright bloom of my favorite flower, I’ve always associated them as the epitome of happiness. Sunflowers are, in a word, cherry. Another tidbit I recently learned about sunflowers is that they are composite flowers, meaning each individual sunflower houses thousands of teeny tiny flowers/florets) in their massive blooms. So, while sunflowers shine on their own, causing humans to smile at their beauty, they more importantly create other lives and give other flowers the power to shine, therefore effecting thousands of humans instead of just a few. And though these flowers look beautiful alone, they are always more beautiful in bunches with others of their kind. Sunflowers are life-giving (and those seeds taste pretty dang good). I own a theatre company in North Carolina, and I have always emphasized my “open-door” policy and stressed how much I believe in “keeping the drama on the stage” at the theatre and how important communication is. One day, several years ago, there was an issue in the company that I didn’t know about until long after it had been a problem. It was something that I could have resolved with just a little communication up front, but I wasn’t told, and so it had become a much larger problem. And when my friend asked one of the people who was complaining about it why they didn’t talk to me, they replied (and please pardon the vulgarity) “No one wants to piss on Erinn’s sunflower”. As funny as that statement sounds, I believe that many people think that just because someone is happy and “gung-ho”, sometimes they are weak and can’t handle the hard truths in many situations. But sunflowers are resilient. On tour with Letters From Home, we recently visited the famous Saturday market in Seattle Washington. There were so many florists there with fresh flowers and while they all smelled and looked amazing, the sunflowers were the ones that stood out much bigger and brighter than the others.
Sunflowers stand out in a crowd. Life has surprised me in ways I never could have imagined these past few years. People have entered and exited my life in the most unexpected ways. I’ve learned about truth and friendship and love in ways I didn’t even know were possible. And there’s been plenty of change and some hurt too. Life is sometimes challenging and complex… but overall always pretty darn beautiful... if you can take a deep breath and be like the sunflower. Be big, bright and cheery. Be bold, strong and resilient. Give happiness and life to others. Know your roots. Be hard to miss in a room. And oh, of course... always face the sun.
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