He knew it was her favourite flower; He gave her one every spring

Little did he know how important that flower would become after he was gone

Cancer would take his life before he was able to give her another in the spring of ‘96

When the daffodils bloomed that spring she couldn’t help but cry and smile at the same time

She bent down to smell it’s beauty and she was taken right back

It was as if he was there right next to her

Hand on her shoulder as she smiled a big toothy grin

“Thank you Papa” She squealed and danced around in her little yellow sundress that perfectly matched the flower she had been given.

Her little blonde pigtails twirled around in the breeze as she danced.

Her grandfather scooped her up and they danced together, her tiny feet standing on his, as they fox trotted around the living room.

Her grandfather sang some old song with a thick Dutch accent and she closed her eyes, mesmerized by the wonderment of a child.

As she leaned over to smell the daffodil that morning, it was as if 15 years hadn’t passed.

She could remember the smell of her grandfather’s Export A cigarettes as those memories flooded her mind.

The very things that would later claim his life, and make it such an ironic symbol that he always gave her daffodils-the flower they sell during June for Cancer awareness month, the month he was born.