“Mom the Wishing Flowers came back!” my oldest runs over to me, and I turn around full of anticipation. A Wishing Flower…that sounds magical. Majestic. Captivating. I turn around to find my oldest clutching two dandelions that have gone to seed. “I picked one for me and one for Gigi!” she tells me, barely able to contain her excitement. “You blow like this, SO HARD, and then you make a wish!” she instructs her sister. 

The unfortunate part of this bonding moment was that it was occurring inside of my car as I buckled them into their car seats. “Could we not…do…that…in here…never mind.” It was too late. The seeds began to float around the body of the car, excited where the small breath that had set them free was sending them. I wish I could have braced them for the anticlimactic journey to the cheerio-laden floor. 

The annoyance of not being listened to began to bubble up but then I heard their tiny voices put their wildest dreams into the universe. “I wish to be a Princess.” “I wish to have a cupcake.” I paused watching the dandelion seeds continue to waft through the car’s interior and in that moment I was able to see the magic my girls see in them. 

To my daughters, they are far more than weeds. They have the power to manifest princesses and cupcakes. 

On my way to work, I turned the air-conditioning on and the draft made the still captive seeds swirl in the passenger seat. The sunlight caught one just right, and I swear I saw a sparkle, and I may or may not have made a wish as I waited for the light to turn green.

To a child, the world is full of magic. We may say it’s in their imagination, but maybe we would all be better off if we saw the magic in the weeds.