As a person born in August, I believe that I have been conditioned to love these flowers as they are in fact the flower of the month. And while my birth month has convinced me to enjoy these flowers, I believe my love for them runs far deeper than the day in which I made my way into this world. My Grandmother and Mother are both huge fans of these huge flowers.

So much so that we have many art pieces with sunflowers on them that have been passed down and have finally reached me, such as a cross stitch image my Grandma made many years before my mother was born, as well as a heart-shaped piece of wood with a sunflower on it that says "You are my sunshine" that my Mom passed down to me.

To many people, these are just flowers but to me they are everything.

I've always been a flower person, from the time I was six and had my first dance recital when I stood frozen in sheer fear at all the people watching my class perform, I always enjoyed getting a bouquet of flowers. Mostly because it meant I did something to make my parents proud and deserved them.

As I got older and could drive I discovered the fact that I could buy my own flowers and I didn't have to do anything to deserve them, in fact, I buy them when I haven't been doing too good with something in order to motivate myself back to that young state of mind when "flowers=proud".

My taste in flowers has changed over the years just as my taste buds have changed. I could never live off of hotdogs or another spray painted non-natural color daisy. Sorry but I don't want a lime green or electric blue flower again, I now prefer my carnations and sunflowers. Don't even get me started on roses, I am unsure of how that is a symbol for love when it dies within four days but maybe the person who started that association did not have the best luck with the ladies, we never know. To all the men out there, or women because treat yourself, buy carnations and sunflowers. They smell much better than roses and will last longer than any rose.

Sunflowers are the key to everything.