My mom called the other day with a great story. My mom always has been and continues to be a great story teller. My sister’s family had come to visit my parents to celebrate my nephew’s belated birthday. My mom left for work before my sister’s family left which prompted my niece, Amaris, to want to write a thank you note. When my mom returned home from work that day, she was greeted by a note which said ‘I Love You Grandmother’ in 7 year old font and an artificial flower lying next to the note on the kitchen table. My mom was very touched by this kind gesture from my niece. The funny part of the story, however, came when my mom continued to tell me that the artificial flower was one that Amaris had pulled out of a flower arrangement my Mom has had for years in the front sitting room. We both laughed at the story and thought how funny that my niece would just pull this flower out and think it was okay.
Then I started to think, ‘At what age would you start to think this was unacceptable?’
The answer I came up with is one that was different than I initially suspected. The more I thought about it, the more I thought this was a great thing to do for multiple reasons. First, it gave my mom a great story - not to mention it will provide a great story at Amaris’s wedding rehearsal dinner some day. But more importantly, Amaris gave a whole new meaning to that poor flower that had been in the sitting room for years. My mom will never think of that little flower the same. My guess is that that flower has now been promoted to my mom’s dresser or a vase on the kitchen counter. The fact that Amaris had picked this flower out changed the value of the flower for Mom. A flower that was often overlooked was now something to cherish. What a great lesson for us to learn in many areas of our lives – altering our perspective on something ordinary to be something to treasure! So here is to more stealing of artificial flowers!
2 comments:
a great thought for the day!!! thanks for the inspiration, my friend!
You are right about the flower having a place of honor in our home. It is taped to the note and hanging on the bulletin board. I doubt that it ever comes down during my lifetime. That flower is much more special than it would have been had it stayed in the arrangement.
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