Joy of Spring

The theme for this short story challenge was to write a story about Spring told in the first person from the perspective of a sunflower. I won first place!:

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I am Jolly Joy, and I am a happiness! But you, as a human, might know of me as simply, “sunflower”.

Little do you know that we flowers have our own identities and souls, for indeed we do, along with divine purpose and goals, albeit our goals are much simpler than yours.

For instance, my goal in this new incarnation is to feel the Joy of Spring! To you this may seem frivolous, but to me, it is everything. It is all I know, all I yearn for, and all that I live for. The life of a “sunflower” is nothing if not for spring.

You see, for me, it all began with a seed, and this seed was watered and nurtured by the sun and the earth, so that I may come and experience my Joy of Spring. This is all I want, this is all I will be, and this is simply perfect and divine, at least for me.

The sun and the earth know who and what I am. They know me more than as simply “sunflower”. They know my essence, they know my needs, and they know my true divinity. Indeed, the sun and the earth know me, as intimately as they know you! And they love me just the same, too.

For the sun and the earth are like my “parents”, as you know parents to be, at least. They incepted me, grow me and support me all throughout my experience. Even after I am picked by human hands, the sun and the earth still look after me, for you see, once my experience with the Joy of Spring is over, it is back to the sun and the earth that I return.

But that is for a later day, indeed, for now my focus is on the New! Spring is here and the time is now for me to join humanity and sprout my seed, spread my roots, and become the bloom I’m meant to be, and it’s all for Spring, you see?

The Joy of Spring means drinking up the morning dew, quenching my thirst and feeling the breath of life move through my being down through my stem, into the beloved earth below. Then feeling the suns caressing rays permeating my silken petals as the sweet little bumble bee drinks of my nectar, spreading my essence for future sunflowers, making it possible for my descendants to experience the Joys of Spring.

Indeed, spring, to us Sunflowers, IS life! Life is the warming sun, Joy the nurturing nectar, Love the dew from the morning mist, friendship from the bumbling bees, and love, sweet love, from the humans that enjoy us!

You see? Spring for me, LIFE for me, means spring for you and Joy for you!

Love, Jolly Joy, Your Personal Sunflower

~Brenda Barnhart