Sunflowers
The significance of my favorite flower
I don’t remember when I decided sunflowers were my favorite flower.
Was it before or after I started working part-time in a flower shop? (I started working there during my last semester of high school and continued working there during the years I spent at community college before transferring to a four-year university.)
I do know that a year or so after I graduated high school, my mom gave me a large tote bag, with sunflowers on both sides.
It was a perfect gift then, but I’m pretty sure neither one of us imagined I would still be using that bag today, more than thirty years later.
Why do I like sunflowers? Or should I say, why do I like sunflowers more than other flowers? Several reasons:
In my eyes, they’re bright and happy flowers. Cheerful.
As flowers go, they’re pretty low maintenance — no thorns or excessive leaves to remove before snipping off the bottom of the stem and putting them into a vase full of water.
I always felt good about selling sunflowers because they’re long-lasting, unlike irises which only last a day or two, maybe three if you’re lucky.
Yet, the older I get, and the more my body changes, the more it makes sense that I would find myself identifying with sunflowers. As in, maybe I liked sunflowers for more superficial reasons, and now I regard them as a sort of symbol of my life.
I like to think I share some of the characteristics that make sunflowers the special flowers they are.
Sunflowers, with their bright yellow color, are said to symbolize positivity and optimism. Generally speaking I try to go through life looking for the good. Hoping for the good. Spreading good by complimenting a stranger’s pretty pink nail polish. Sweeping my neighbor’s back patio. Picking up the package of cookies that fell off the shelf at the market (even though some days it really hurts to bend and pick anything up).
Sunflowers are resilient. They are known for their ability to turn towards the sunlight and to thrive in what many would consider to be impossible-to-thrive conditions. And let’s just say that becoming chronically ill at age 34 left me no choice but to develop my resilience and create this whole other career and identity for myself as a writer.
Sunflowers are hardy. Tough. Because when you live with chronic pain you don’t have a choice. You have to be strong.
And, sunflowers are also a symbol for the chronic illness community.
“The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower is a simple tool for you to voluntarily share that you have a disability or condition that may not be immediately apparent – and that you may need a helping hand, understanding, or more time in shops, at work, on transport, or in public spaces.”
That’s why you’ll find sunflowers on my website (in the header) and here on Substack.
And when I dream of the cover for my memoir-in-essays, I imagine sunflowers on it in some way.
Dear Readers, that’s the story behind my favorite flower. May I ask, what’s yours? Your favorite flower? And, is there a particular reason why you chose that flower? Feel free to share in the comments. Let’s create a virtual bouquet of all our favorite flowers.
This was so fun to read, Wendy! I knew you loved sunflowers, but the story of how this came to be is such delightful context. As for my favorite flower, I love peonies. They change so dramatically when they open, it's hard to imagine how all those petals were wrapped into a tiny ball to start. They always strike me as miraculous, a perfect example of everyday magic, and they are unapologetically themselves, showing up with nothing to hide. They always make me smile.