The Lupine

I want to talk to you guys about a book that my mom used to read to me when I was little. It was a very important book. Far more important than "I'll like you forever. I'll love you for always." At least, in my mind.

I don't remember the title, and we no longer have the book anymore, but let me give you the synopsis.

A little girl used to visit her grandmother's house on the sea every summer, and every summer the yard around her grandmother's house would be full of a particular, purple flower called a Lupine. One day the little girl asked her grandmother about the flower, and her grandmother said that it had been her favorite flower for as long as she could remember, and before that it had been her grandmother's favorite flower. The little girl stated that it was her favorite flower as well.

Ordinarily that would be the end of the story, but for this little girl it was not.

As tends to happen, this little girl grew up. She went to school and became well educated and full of words. She traveled the world and saw a great many sights. She got married, had children, and her children had children.

Eventually she became an old woman herself, yet she always felt incomplete, like she hadn't quite finished something. Over the years she became a widow, and it was unremarkable. Women always lived longer than men in those days.

One day she decided that she had grown tired of this feeling of restlessness. She decided that she needed to know why she felt so unfinished. So she retraced her life. She visited her children and grandchildren, whom she loved very much. She traveled the world again, visiting exotic places like India and South America. She even returned to school.

But none of it did the job. Finally, she did the last thing she could think of. She returned to her grandmother's house on the sea, which was old now with much chipped paint. As she turned the last corner to get to her grandmother's home, she was greeted with a sea of purple.

Over the years the Lupines that surrounded her grandmother's house had spread and spread, until they stood as far up and down the coast as the eye could see.

Then the old woman knew what she had to do. She had done many things in her life. She had seen many things in her life. But she had never made a difference with her life. She had never given back.

When that summer ended, the woman went to every plant store she could find and purchased bags and bags of Lupine seeds. She got on her bicycle and did what she knew was the right thing to do. She gave back.

From town to town she road, spreading seeds where ever she was. Soon people in all the towns knew who she was and made jokes about the crazy woman with the seeds and the bicycle.

But she did not stop. She kept riding and planting and riding and planting, until every bag was empty, and the time for planting was through.

Then she waited. Over the winter and early spring all the townspeople continued to joke, until they forgot, as people tend to do.

Then one day in early summer a little girl woke up, opened her window blinds, and let out a loud exclamation. Before her, as far as the eye could see, was a sea of beautiful, purple flowers.

All the people in all the towns in all the land woke up that day and were surprised at what they found. Some shook their heads and continued to make jokes, but most simply stayed silent. The world around them had suddenly become intensely beautiful.

And then the little girl who had thrown open her window blinds looked at her grandmother and asked about these purple flowers. The grandmother replied that this flower was the Lupine, and it was her favorite flower since she was a little girl, and that it had been her grandmother's favorite flower as well.

Then the little girl said that it was her favorite flower too.

And that is the story. Take from it what you will.

Edit: OK. I just found it. Turns out I'd done a little judicious editing from my childhood, but I think it remains a beautiful story and a beautiful boook. It's title is Miss Rumphius.

Edit (the next morning): Perhaps the most important thing I left out was an instruction the girl received when she was young. "What is the purpose of life?" she asked. The answer was pretty simple. Visit amazing places, return home, and make something in the world beautiful.