Picking More Daisies
- stephanybrickleban
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
After living in the same house for over 22 years, it seems fitting that we have hired a skip to make a start on a massive clear out.
Massive clear outs are very time consuming and therapeutic in equal measure if done correctly.
To methodically go through each box and decide what to keep (again) and what to throw away has been painful and joyous in equal measure. From reading my educational psychology reports from sixth form college to the essays in paper format from my university days, including my two-year postgraduate course, has been wonderful. Thank goodness education is now completed online! I did have a laugh, though, when I discovered that I’d printed and then cut out every single page number and appendix number and stuck them onto the pages with glue! Yes, I’m showing my age, but I don’t care. Growing old is a privilege and I’ll enjoy every minute of it!
Among the papers was a beautiful poem I’d forgotten about by Nadine Stair I’d Pick More Daisies whisked me back in time immediately to my training as a dramatherapist at Ripon and York St John, as it was known then.
And here is the delight, a poem with a complicated history, as it is said to have derived from the writings by Don Herold in 1931
I'd Pick More Daisies
By Nadine Stair, age 85 in 1953
If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have on this trip. I would be crazier. I would be less hygienic. I would take more chances; I would take more trips. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets. I would burn more gasoline. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. You see, I am one of those people who lives prophylactically and sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day.
Oh, I have had my moments And if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another. Instead of living so many years ahead each day. I have been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had to do it over again, I would go places and do things. I'd travel lighter than I have.
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I wouldn't make such good grades except by accident. I would ride on merry-go-rounds.
I'd pick more daisies!
My reflection from when I was studying dramatherapy was a very practical and methodical one, as I was 23/24 years old, so I didn’t have the life experience with which to view the poem. Reading it now, fifty-year-old me hears something different from the dramatherapy student who first encountered it. I hear now to ‘pick more daisies’ and have more ‘moments, one after the other, instead of living so many years ahead each day.’ And that those moments in time are with the ones you love and who love you.
Having the clear out was also a reminder of the fragility of life and those we have lost in the past twenty-two years! Among the boxes and photographs are faces of people who are no longer here: people whose absence is still felt, no matter how much time has passed.
Just as the clearing of the boxes brought pain and joy, looking at those photographs and letters has brought the same. There is a sadness that they were taken from us too soon, and joy that they were part of our lives: that we knew them, loved them and continue to carry them with us.
People do not disappear when they die. Their influence remains. Their values, their stories and the lessons they taught us continue to shape who we are. Their legacy lives on in the choices we make, the memories we share and the lives we continue to lead.
I’ll ‘pick more daisies’ and not just seize the day but cherish the moments we create with our loved ones. As the skip continues to fill outside, I am reminded to ‘climb more mountains, swim more rivers’ and watch more sunsets! Not only for me but also for all those who can no longer do so.
Go, make the memories…
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