The Miracle of a Single Flower

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change." ~ Author Unknown

My Mom, after years of working so many difficult jobs found her niche in the world when she formed the company – JOY OF FLOWERS. Hundreds if not thousands of brides fell in love with my Mom and her artistry as she brought the beauty of floral arrangements to their weddings and receptions. I worked for her for nearly 15 years, both paid and unpaid and what she taught me in the basement flower shop was that beauty can be found anywhere if you look hard enough.

She had her favorite flowers; I think it’s a tie between the gladiola and the gerbera daisy. You would have thought it would have been something exotic or rich in texture like a rose but she loved the simple and beautiful garden flowers. She would go to the wholesalers and buy hundreds of flowers every Wednesday and I would tag along just to stand in a room full of beautiful blooms with a remembered fragrance I can still smell now as I write. They loved my Mom at the wholesalers; I can’t even begin to tell you how much. Her genuine respect for their jobs and they prepared and packed her flowers gave me a life long lesson in the admiring and respect of every job held by every person and their value to the place of employment as a whole.

Every time I go over to the house I am brought pack to the fragrance and commotion of a seven wedding weekend. My sister-in-laws working busily to get the rentals out and mom patiently teaching everyone to design flowers. There was a time, for about 5 years where I would go to workshops and clinics and she had I had such different styles. Mom’s was traditional, mine, very European and when we settled on that, the eclectic brides would be sent my way and then some pretty funky stuff was sent out and the traditional brides found favor in everything Mom designed. I often would say that being eclectic with flowers was easier because there was no rhyme or reason to it but when you have to conform and rules play into it, for me, it was much more difficult. I loved the creativity of that basement workshop and the given’s like cantaloupe, cheese and crackers, the TV on “One Life to Live”, “The Young and The Restless” or Oprah. We laughed until we cried and week after week Mom’s business became everything to all of us.

By the end of a Saturday – all of us would gather around her island to Chinese food and laugh about all the ways we nearly screwed up or on the exchange of church flowers to set-ups. I miss her as I write this. She made life so much fuller then it ever could have been without her.

Because of these great experiences I have been able to see a single rose and understand the creativity of HF and his great plan. I remember when hybrid roses started to come into the wholesaler. It all began with the Lady Di rose which the Holland Botanists created by splicing two different roses together for her upcoming nuptials. It was beautiful and now, when I see the new colors of roses I am so amazed at how far they have come. I wonder what they will come up with for Kate and William’s wedding.

Mom taught me about beauty without ever making it a lesson I had to learn. She was like that, without even trying she made living a classroom and she was the greatest instructor.

So what am I on about?

Sometimes life will throw so much at you all at once and what you have to do is remind yourself of the beauty of just that one flower or that one person or that one thing that makes a significant difference in your thought patterns so you can emerge form the chaos and focus. When simplifying it all and making sure you aren’t overwhelmed you can then see just what it is that should be important and prioritized. This is the one of the many life lessons I have to relearn all the time. I wish it wasn’t so but it is.

Mom had a way of making things sort and become clear. I am sure it was in all those old Scottish sayings that have been handed down from generation to generation that give wisdom at the times you need it most.

So here’s my “Go-Team-Go” for today. You can and you will make it. If at times it feels differently, focus on the one thing that matters most and accomplish it, then the next, and the next after that and what will happen is you will be accomplishing what at first you felt insurmountable. How do I know this works, because I live it everyday.

An Irish Blessing to end with;

May the road rise to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.