THE POWERS OF FLOWERS

Thursday, January 15, 2009


Let's say you and your partner had a bad night, during which one of you got locked in the garage*, one of you flew into a panshard--Olde Englyshe for "passionate rage"--one of you "slept" on the ridiculously tiny couch, and one of you had oddly enjoyable visions of hot pokers and eyeballs. Let's say the morning didn't go much better, and one of you left three messages, partially in a screaming tone of voice, on the other's cell phone on the way to work.

Let's say that, for one of you, the idea of going to work was comparable to the idea of rubbing all your skin off with sandpaper, because: a) you felt terrible and antisocial b) you felt horrible and introverted c) you felt awful and didn't want to talk to, see, or be talked to or seen by anybody. Most of all, you didn't want to sit at a desk in front of all your coworkers and answer the phone in a cheery manner. But you had to go to work, so go to work you did.

Then let's say that around 12:30 a man walked into the office carrying a vase of flowers. He asked "Is (your name) here?" and when you identifed yourself as (your name) he put the flowers on your desk and you were momentarily completely and totally thrilled. You thought "Ahh...!"

"Ahh," you thought, "everything is ok. Everything is going to be ok."

The bouquet of flowers--all purple and white, and salmon and pink, and yellow and red, against dark green glossy leaves--sat next to the printer on the corner of your desk, radiating love. You were so delighted to have been given this gift, to have been told through its exploding colors that everything--all the love and happiness, the comfort and warmth, the friendship and fun--were still right there, it was all you could do to not take it in your arms and smother it with kisses.

When you went to lunch, i.e., went to take a nap in your car, you wanted to take the flowers with you. When you came back from your lunch/nap, you noticed again how much they brightened the office, how much the spicy smell of carnations and the sweet smell of lilies lifted your spirits and made you happy to be there, at work, at 2 o'clock on Thursday afternoon. The flowers made you happy to be there, and they made you happy with everything else, too.

*by mistake

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