If you went to visit the Prayers from Maria sunflowers this year you know that are strikingly beautiful.  It is also very emotional to think about all the children who lost their lives to cancer.  I admire the strength of those families.  What a great way to raise awareness and raise funds to cure this terrible disease. 

For me,  the sunflowers made me take more time to enjoy my son, Ryan. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy him daily, but what I mean is really taking the time to be present in the moment. There is so much going on in our day to day lives that sometimes we don't take the time to slow down and enjoy the wonder of our little ones growing up and discovering the world.

This year they built a platform to overlook the flowers.  This was pure genius.  Yes, it was great idea to look at over the field, but what I loved about it was that Ryan played on it for an hour! He loved it.  He went up and down on the steps, he ran down the ramp, and up the ramp.  He met another little boy who joined him.  They ran up and down giggling the whole time.

We walked down the path and looked at the sunflowers.  He touched the center and looked at me.  I explained to him the anatomy of the sunflower.  He

then picked one up that was laying on the ground and held it to me to smell. He played on the bridge sticking his nose between the spindles and making funny faces. He climbed up and down the benches. He even tried to go take a short cut through the field.  Which might have been a good picture, but I didn't want to lose my son in a field of flowers taller than him.

At the end of the path I let Ryan put our money in the donation box.  This took awhile as he put the money half way in and back out several times.  I tried waiting patiently while he figured it out.  If you are a mother of a toddler you know what kind of patience I'm talking about. Even this simple task of him discovering the donation box made me smile.

Ryan did not know why we went to visit the sunflowers that day. He spent the time there enjoying the wonder of them.  The wonder of the way they looked, felt, and smelled. He enjoyed playing on the platform and walking the path.  He loved the bridges and the benches.  And yes, he even enjoyed the donation box.

For me, I took in the beauty of the Sunflowers and acknowledged the cause, but most of all I enjoyed taking the time to be present while my son took in the wonder of them.  You see, I know the reason why we were there and what those sunflowers represent, it makes me hug my little one a little bit tighter. It reminds me to slow down and delight in his wonder.