A Dandelion in December

She felt stupid
Her roots clinging to the almost frozen earth
It is after all in each of us
To feel a little rotten when we are the last one’s left
Her friends were long gone
Picked in the warm summer
Flying off in every direction
She had been a later bloomer
By the time her yellow petals
Had shifted to white
It seemed as though no one wanted her
No one looked for dandelions in December
But suddenly she was airborne
Lifted by small fingers
Immediately, hope blossomed
Yet
In the moment of stillness that followed
She feared her hope had been in vain
That she would simply be tossed aside
Would crumble away
Never having seen the world she dreamed of
But then it hit her
And she flew through the sky
In one thousand little pieces
Letting the wish
Bring her home

Finding a Dandelion in December

She felt hopeless
Missing Winnipeg
By now, covered in a thick blanket of white
That wouldn’t melt for months
9 years old is a stubborn age to move to a new country
She did not understand why they were here
Only that the temperature had not dropped
To the number where water turned crystal
And that there were no snow ball fights
No snow forts in her back yard
No snowmen
No friends
And then she saw it
A dandelion in December
She could not help but smile
The small seeds looked almost like snow
She tugged it from the ground
Closed her eyes
Blew harder than she ever had
On birthday candles
On eyelashes
With the force of her wish
The small white tufts broke off the stem
And swirled around her
Letting her pretend
She was home