The Inspiration Behind Wildflowers

Last night I decided to contact the poet who wrote ‘Wildflowers’ which I featured in a post recently. I wrote to inform her that I had used her poem and thank her for the inspiration. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to this wonderful response from Kitty Chappell.

Ms Chappell was generous enough to let me share it with you. From her mail you’ll see how if we’re open to it, inspiration is all around us – in the everyday business of life.

Thank you for affirming that what we write and say impacts others.

I wrote Wildflowers during a very difficult time in my life. My husband and I had lost almost everything in one of the worst recessions we had ever experienced in CA. We were forced to leave our small beautiful forest home with a creek and waterfall and relocate to AZ (a place I said I’d never live—the desert!) where we began all over at the age of 60. I put my speaking and writing on hold and worked nights at a local hospital while my late husband worked days. I feared we would need to work until we were 90 years old just to climb out of debt. But then I’d be too old to pursue what I truly loved.

Driving to work one afternoon, while waiting at a stop sign at the top of an on ramp to a major boulevard, I noticed a bright blue wildflower thriving in a crack in the pavement. Every day for weeks I admired the tenacity of this beautiful flower as it ignored it surroundings— little soil and water for nourishment, the blasting exhaust fumes, hot wind from passing cars, all alone—yet blooming its very best.

I realized one day, while again waiting at the stop sign, that if this wildflower had a choice I’m sure it would prefer to be in a cool, lush, mossy forest area—but who would see it? And if anyone did, so what? After all, a flower is expected to bloom in a perfect environment. But who would expect a tiny flower to bloom in a cracked pavement? I sighed and thought, Oh, if only I could be like that wildflower! Thus, this brave little flower provided motivation for my poem.

As my husband and I began to bloom in our environment, we came out of debt quicker than anticipated and I was able to resume my speaking and writing. I was 68 when my first book was published, but that was better than 90!

Thank you, Corinne, for sharing Wildflowers with others and for contacting me, because this poem has a special place in my heart—as does the memory of that sweet little flower God placed in a most unlikely spot for my encouragement.

I hope you enjoy knowing this poem’s background.

Keep on blooming!

Kitty Chappell

Isn’t this just awesome? It’s amazing how inspiration is truly all around us!