When I was a teenager, I was often caught up in the romance and sentimentality of song lyrics. One of those songs was Eighteen Yellow Roses, sung by Bobby Darin. For those that haven’t heard it, you can hear it here. The song’s lyrics tell the story of a father’s realization that his little girl is growing up. One day a bouquet of eighteen yellow roses comes for the daughter, and the dad says “…eighteen yellow roses will wilt and die one day but a father’s love will never fade away.” I had a different kind of relationship with my father and I think it was a longing for something I was missing that made me love that song. I used to turn the volume up every time I heard it on the radio and that was a lot because I always listened to the oldies station, even as a teenager.
As my own eighteenth birthday approached in December of 1973, the song became more and more special to me. I had no hope of getting the roses as I had no boyfriend. My father was also gone from our home so having him around for my 18th birthday was up in the air. On Christmas morning, the day I turned 18, I was surprised to find a bouquet of 18 yellow roses and more surprised to find that the card on the flowers had my name on it. The bouquet was from my mom. She wanted to do something special for me and in my eyes, she had done just that.
My mom continued to gift me with yellow roses on my birthday for a number of years. In fact, yellow roses have sort of become my trademark. Now, when I get them (and it’s rare these years) the gift is made more special because I know that the persons giving them to me (my kids) know how special they are and intend to give me something very special.
Yellow roses have a very special meaning in my life. Wow. I’m a bit stunned by this.
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Bittersweet, and touching … I wish you’d had a dad who would have showered you with roses, and cherished every moment of your girlhood. I’m glad your mom noticed and made the gesture.
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[…] December 2, 2008 Yellow Roses Posted by bibliomom under death, flowers, grief, illness, loss, memoir (A companion piece to Corina’s blog post on a Yellow Rose) […]
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Very sweet. I love yellow roses, too. And pink ones. And white ones. I always say, no no, don’t give me flowers, what a waste of money! but am delighted to get them.
What a great mom.
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I loved this post. My grandfather loves yellow roses. In his old home, he would have “rows” of yellow rose tree’s that outlined his front yard. He would spend hours, lovingly tending to those trees each summer. His love of those roses definitely rubbed off on me because I fell in love with roses too.
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