How to survive the rain

In a field, somewhere in the countryside, there once stood a flower.

It wasn’t old, and it wasn’t young, but it had been there for a few seasons already. Every day it watched the sun rise and set, the clouds march on, and the stunning mountains breath deeply all around. Its petals were large, its stalk was strong, and its buds were vivid and rich.

One day, it noticed a much smaller flower, poking up from the grass below; smaller, weaker, and unseasoned.

Being a flower is tougher than it looks. There are animals that can harm it, and all sorts of bugs and pests… and did you know that even flowers can catch colds? There isn’t much a little plant can do to protect itself, and then there’s the weather! That beautiful sky can do a lot of bad things to a gentle little soul...

Raindrops fall like rocks on flowers. Aside from almost drowning, each drop lands like a punch from above. “The trick is to bend your petals backwards, so the drops can go around them” said the big flower to the small, as it stretched all it could, to cover and protect the little one, who was so little, that even the splashing from the broken drops would hurt.

Further into winter, it gets so cold that a flower can freeze into a deep sleep. While the younger flower shivered wildly, the older one blanketed its leaves around them both. It pulled the younger one in and whispered “Wrap up tight, that’s what your leaves are for”.

The summer months are not without their dangers either. The midday sun can shine so strongly it can bake a little flower till it’s burnt to a crisp. “Drink lots of water little one, to keep yourself cool in this heat. Dig deep with those roots and pull with all your might”, taught the larger flower, as it pulled up enough water for itself and some extra for the struggling little one. The cool water was a great relief on those terribly hot days.

As the season passed, the flowers grew together, sharing the sunrises and the sunsets, and all the tricks to surviving in the wild; until one day they weren’t together anymore, and the little flower prepared itself for the hard times to come.

When the next rains fell, the flower tried to sway, even turned its petals down, but try as it did, it still took a beating. Bruised and aching, it barely pulled through, to the cold days.

As the cruel winds blew snow and ice, the flower wrapped its leaves around its stem as tightly as it could. It was even colder this year, and the flower trembled like nothing before, but no blanket came down upon it. It’s awful being a flower in such frosty cold.

It was awful in the blazing heat of the summer as well. It pulled and drank whatever it could, but it still lost a few of its tips to the sun. The flower missed the help of its friend, and wasn’t sure if it could make it on its own in the end. Weary and tired, the flower slept, bravely afraid of the year ahead.

By the time the next rainclouds crept into the skies, the flower looked down and saw an even smaller bud sprouting below it. This one was infinitesimally weak and thin; there was no chance it would survive on its own.

As the rocks fell, the flower didn’t just bend its own petals back, it stretched them out as far as it could, trying to cover the younger one too. Despite those rain rocks hurtling down, the flowers made it through the rainy season together.

When the howling winds came back again, our flower was still fumbling to wrap itself up. Still, it couldn’t ignore the helpless little one by its side. It let go of its own stem and embraced the tiny plant, holding it tightly through to the springtime, no matter the storm.

And when the melting sun shone down again, the flower found itself explaining to the young one, about drinking water, and pulling from the roots. They survived, together, until they weren’t together anymore, adapting with the seasons, as the clouds marched on.