Gratitude Practice 2023 Nov 23: The Wife of Hans Rasmussen’s Poppy Fields
About twenty years ago, I stumbled upon a local legend describing a wild patch of bright red-orange Poppies in a rural farming town known as Mantua, Utah. The Bearded Iris, the Herbaceous Peony and the Papaver Rhoeas a.k.a.the red-orange Poppy round out my top three favorite flowers of all time. These red-orange flowers are phenomenal and wild and I'm always inspired by their bold color, their confident stance, and their fierce determination which is all balanced with delicate sophisticated ruffley petals. Talk about the total package. I tucked away the knowledge of this hidden poppy field deep inside my brain and added it to my internal “Somehow Someday Sometime” list. This spring, as if divinely inspired, the memory of this hidden poppy field popped into my mind and I became determined to find it.
On a sunny weekend in early June, my little family packed our Pathfinder and made plans to find this hidden treasure on our way to a quick weekend of relaxation and soaking in a nearby hot spring. My internal nerd kicked in and after a little internet search, I learned that according to legend, a handful of poppy seeds came to this beautiful secluded mountain town thanks to a Mormon pioneer woman from Denmark, remembered only as the wife of Hans Rasmussen. In my mind's eye, and inside my vivid imagination, I think she must have gathered poppy seeds before she left her known place of comfort. I imagine her walking through her Denmark garden preparing to say goodbye, perhaps tearful with overwhelming unknowns but excited and motivated with possibility of a reboot. She must have carefully tucked a handful of seeds into an apron pocket as she closed one chapter of her life and began another. Then those tiny seeds sailed across the pond and eventually, courageously and confidently they began again but this time in a beautiful lush valley known as Mantua which without surprises means “beautifully grown.”
Tonight, as the chill of winter temperatures settles in, I am drawn back to a warm sunny day with my two greatest loves in Mantua, Utah walking through the most incredible fields of endless red-orange poppies. I was stunned by the color and the breadth and the impact of a small handful of seeds shared by a brave woman from Denmark a lifetime ago. These blooms. These seeds. This hopefully seed planting process. The impact. The spread. All of it magic.
Tonight, I'm grateful for the lasting impact of tiny efforts. Grateful for the hopeful vision of the wife of Hans Rasmussen and her heroic intentional life reboot. Grateful for those who go about doing good without any intention of a reward, or a parade or a standing ovation…just tossing seeds of opportunity around like hope in action. Grateful for the good people who have planted big seeds in me…both intentionally and unknowingly by simply showing-up, showing who they are, showing what matters most, and showing more love than I probably deserve.
Grateful for the sacred gift of time and for personal, spiritual and intellectual germination over the last year. Grateful for seasons of dormant reflection, for blooms of big of personal revelation, for thoughtful remembrance, and for soul stretching realizations. Grateful for opportunities to reboot. Lots of big grateful thoughts about those who have and are helping me “Mantua” or beautifully grow into the next new and improved version of me. It's a messy complicated incredible business…this attempt of responsible adulting... working, worshiping, wife-ing, mom-ing, family-ing, friend-ing and simply just existing...and I'm grateful for all of it. Grateful for what comes easy and for the incredible examples of endurance and empathy and energy in motion. Grateful for the hard…and there has been hard…which miraculously with time is becoming…holy. Grateful for both the fun AND the frustrating. Grateful for this human process and the endless possibilities unknowingly yet beautifully taught by the wife of Mr. Hans Rasmussen. Grateful for her insight and effort to help a mostly strung out and frazzled middle aged woman learn some big important lessons. Because of her incredible poppy fields hidden deep in the rolling hills of Mantua, Utah I think I'm starting to get it. I think I needed a big, bold, bright red-orange visual indicator of a scared growth cycle in motion. These silly blooms, inspiring in number and impact, are proof positive that you can never really measure the impact of small tiny efforts made in love. Grateful for the last year of life and learning and grateful to recognize the gift of beautiful poppy infused personal growth.