The Hollyhock – April 23

I first noticed the hollyhock in the middle of my front flower bed when it was a small plant.  I hadn’t intended to have a hollyhock plant there, but I decided to let it grow.  It continued to grow and reach upward until it was over ten feet tall. I was amazed.  Masked individuals paused in their walking to gaze at it.  Eventually the weight of the multitude of pink blossoms caused the top to bend over.  When that bent-over portion of the main stalk became dry and brittle, I cut it off. Now the hollyhock sent out branches to the side and continued to bloom. 

One night a strong wind blew after the sprinklers had watered the flower bed.  In the morning  the hollyhock was leaning over.  I helped it to be vertical again. I pushed a stake into the wet soil and tied the hollyhock to it. New stalks had grown up from the roots and it bloomed once again.  The hollyhock once more was reaching toward the sky. It is now over six feet tall. I visualize its future height. The hollyhock continues to amaze me.

“The” is a very specific word.  It is only three characters long but using it makes a difference in both spoken and written word.  The is a signal to the reader or the listener because it points to a very specific person, place, thing or idea.  “A” is more general.  For instance, a hollyhock is very ambiguous.  It could be any one of a number of hollyhocks.  But the hollyhock makes it very specific.  We are talking about the only one of its kind.

 There are a lot of women in the world. We are labeled as wives, mothers, grandmas, storytellers—the list of categories goes on and on. Each woman shifts from one role to another according to what is needed from her each day.

I look around me and see many exemplary women. They inspire me to reach upward, to do better.  But if I compare myself to those other women and try to be just like them, it can be discouraging. If I measure myself against them and see all the things that are lacking in me, I feel inadequate.  Even if I were to succeed in becoming exactly like someone else, I would only be a second-best carbon copy.

 I am me. I am a unique individual. There is no one just like me. I choose to be the best me I can be.