Chrysanthemums

Cheerfulness, Love & Longevity...that's what the yellow mums are all about...a lovely beginning of the "Chinese" year of 2010. Yupp...The Year of The Golden Tiger has arrived! A year promising challenges of all sorts. Hmmm...how will you choose to look at it? Well...I'd say...BRING IT ON! I am ready...for I choose to live this year with optimism and confidence. We all can achieve success when we put our hearts and souls into whatever we believed in in the first place.

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. (Hal Borland)

The Chrysanthemum flower, or more lovingly known as The Mums, is a noble flower of the Chinese noble class. It is believed in China that if this yellow bloom that has been used to wipe one's mouth after drinking wine is given to your beloved, it will promise undying love and loyalty of a partner.
Every Chinese New Year since I was little, Chrysanthemums are one kind of flower that I always see around the house. I always thought they are bought because they take forever to wilt! Little did I know, the Mums actually represent what everyone longs for...happiness, long life, and love.
This year, especially, someone special comes to mind. A Tiger! Someone very close to my heart. Someone who means way too much to me. Someone who, believe it or not, knows me better than my parents!!! Someone who is playful, charming, passionate, loving and intelligent. Someone who can be unpredictable at times, yet, is the same someone whom I can count on ALL the time. Thank you for all your encouragements and inspirations throughout the years. Thank you for always being there for me. Life would never be the same without you, that's for sure!
I found the perfect picture (below) of my Tiger friend and me, the chubby piglet, hehe!
To the world you may be one person but to one person you may be the world.
(Brandi Snyder)