Good Morning!
Today is a wonderful day here in Daisy Cottageland. My name is Jill. I am Kim’s sister and I have wrestled the keyboard out of her hands in order to take this time and space to honor our hostess on her 50th birthday! I have pledged an oath on my life that I will take good care of you in her short absence and I will try to honor the bond you share with Miss Daisy. Now we all know many things about Kim, her warm, welcoming spirit oozes from every communication. Her creativity and talents are evidenced in each post and her love of life emanates right through the computer screen. She is all that you know and much, much more.
Kim is a one of a kind girl who sees the world with the eyes of an explorer. She is curious and thoughtful. Never one to take things at first glance, she is a ponderer. This intellectual curiosity leads her to see the world around her with an ever expanding perspective, one that allows her to find interest in the most common items. An example of her unique perspective is right here, evidenced by the beautiful pictures she takes and shares. Artistically she plays with light, her focus on detail expresses the importance of not getting lost in the big idea or the big picture. Kim reminds us that life is lived in these, the smallest of places and it is here, focused on the parts not on the whole, that we will find solace and peace.
Kim is an advocate. She is a warrior, a champion of causes and most of all she is a protector of the ones she loves. Whether it be a lost pet whose image has been posted on telephone poles, a child left unattended in a parked car or an old love letter left in a book she discovered on one of her many treasure hunts, Kim is there to protect, restore, and reclaim each of them. She is a super hero for the lost, the unnoticed, the overlooked, and the unwanted. We see it here on her beautiful blog - she says with each story that to pay attention to the least of these is to find beauty in unexpected places. If beauty lies within the confines of a chipped ceramic figure then how much more beauty lies within each of us? Spending time with Kim is a reminder that beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder but it is within even those with the roughest exteriors.
One of our favorite books is Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree; it is a story about a tree that is happiest when it is giving to a boy who grows up under its shade. The tree gives and gives until it has no more to give and then even still finds a way to give more. This is Kim; Kim is a giver. She gives of herself freely, often, and unendingly. Once she has you, she keeps you right there, close by and in her shade. You are now a part of her mind, her thoughts and her heart. Picture the white bowl sitting on the table in her office, filled with beautiful homemade hearts given to her by many of you. The bowl is Kim and you are the hearts. She holds you close, keeps you all connected, and provides you with a place to rest and be safe however long you stay. Through her efforts here at Dear Daisy Cottage, she teaches us that to give and give and give some more is not only a noble calling but a worthy effort that will be rewarded in millions of smiles.
Today is a special day; Miss Daisy Cottage is turning 50 and we honor all that she is; the artist, the homemaker, the photographer, the writer, the designer, the wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend, the warrior champion, the explorer and the giver. You are loved.
Jill
