I wandered lonely as a cloud....

I wandered lonely as a cloud 

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 

When all at once I saw a crowd, 

A host, of golden daffodils; 

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 

Continuous as the stars that shine 

And twinkle on the milky way, 

They stretched in never-ending line 

Along the margin of a bay: 

Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 

The waves beside them danced; but they 

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: 

A poet could not but be gay, 

In such a jocund company: 

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought 

What wealth the show to me had brought: 

For oft, when on my couch I lie 

In vacant or in pensive mood, 

They flash upon that inward eye 

Which is the bliss of solitude; 

And then my heart with pleasure fills, 

And dances with the daffodils.

-- William Wordsworth

In a little town in northern Connecticut, off the main road, past several old farms, beside a narrow dirt road, there is a field of daffodils.

This is not just any field and they are most certainly not planted in neat and tidy rows.  It is an old but typical New England farm.  Its not flat by any means.  There are trees scattered amongst the rocky fields with rock walls scattered about and a farm lane through the middle.  In the distance a river passes by with a small island in the middle.  But this field is different than all the rest.  Its covered in daffodils.  Under the trees, in the fields, even covering the island are thousands of daffodils.  It is amazingly beautiful.  

This isn't a public park.  There are no benches. No parking lot.  Just a field of daffodils on the side of a dirt road.  In the middle there is a plaque explaining the purpose of these daffodils.  It starts with the poem above written by William Wordsworth.  Below is written the following: These daffodils were planted for all to enjoy by Virginia and Remy Morosani  1941

This lovely couple decided to set aside a part of their land and to take the time to plant thousands of daffodils for no other reason except for the Joy of it.  The cool part was that you could feel the joy just being there.  Even on the cold, windy overcast day that we were there, we had such a wonderfully fun time.  Even as I write this a week later it fills me with joy remembering my family playing among the daffodils.

I think Wordsworth would approve.

On the way home I was thinking about the amazing thing that this couple had done.  And for no other purpose  but to bring joy to others.  Then I started to think about my time and how I spend it, for myself and my family, and what part of what I do with my time is just for joy.  Its a very small amount. Its hard, with the never ending to-do list, two kids and now a newborn.  But I want more daffodils in my life, metaphorically that is.  I want to make sure that I take a bit of time every week to do something that I really enjoy doing. I want each person in my family to have the time to do what they love to do.  

I think the next step after that would be to think of some of our good friends and how we as a family might bring a bit of joy into their lives.  There is nothing as special as brightening someones day.  What a feeling it must have been to plant all those daffodils, not knowing if it would make an impact or not.  I do hope they were able to see the impact that they made.  I certainly will always remember the day I walked in the daffodils.