February 14, the Epilogue

Back in 2019 I wrote a blog post about how I feel about Valentine’s Day. Since 1992 (now 31 years ago) I have had a love/hate relationship with this date. But when I wrote this post, I failed to share another part of the story. With the popularity of a new pop song related to the giving of flowers, I felt this part of the story needed to be shared, too… more of my “flower independence”.

 

Back in 2013, I had struck up a friendship with a very sweet man. He and I both had previous bad break ups and had declared we were not ever going to commit to someone again. After all, at our age, been there done that, don’t need it again.

 

I had also shared my Valentine’s Day stories with him (see the main blog post related to this epilogue). I told him that I didn’t need flowers, ever. After all, I had been a floral designer hobbyist my whole life and I could arrange a pretty good centerpiece myself. He also had the attitude that flowers were kind of a waste and that you can express gratitude for someone in more meaningful, long-lasting ways. I was glad we were on the same page.

 

One morning at work, our receptionist calls me to tell me that someone left a bag for me at the front desk. As I walk to the lobby, I am curious as I was not expecting anything. But being the head of human resources for my company, solicitors left things for me quite frequently, so it wasn’t totally unusual.

 

I get to the front, and she hands me a grocery bag with three small paper bags of flour, with a handwritten note that says, “I thought you would like these flours.”

 

I carry this surprise, anonymous bag to my desk and my assistant comes in and asks what I’ve gotten. I showed her and she laughed. I said, “Well, he must have known I am making chocolate chip cookies this weekend for a party. How thoughtful.” He happened to be doing a construction job at the grocery store just down the street, so I didn’t think a thing of it. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to her desk.

 

Fifteen minutes go by and it HIT me! F-L-O-U-R-S He was totally pranking me! As I burst out laughing, my assistant comes back to my office and says, “So you finally got it?” and laughed! It took me a minute, but yes, I got it. And I got the kind of flours I could definitely use!

 

We laugh about this story every year, now being married for eight years, though we said we would never do it again. And he doesn’t get me flowers, he helps me grow them. And I have now owned a successful full-service floral design studio for 5 years after leaving corporate life behind. 

 

So Happy Valentine’s Day all you flower givers out there! Your giving helps support our industry! And thank you Miley Cyrus for writing a song I’ve lived for now most of my life. I’m glad y’all are finally gaining your flower independence, too! #giveflours

February 14 blog post from 2019 HERE!