Flower power!
Worried, anxiety-ridden, and depressed over the latest health crisis I’ve encountered in my role as caregiver, it was high time for “the arrangement”—bright, fresh-cut flowers displayed in a vase.
A while back during winter when things were on an even keel, the only item the gentleman ahead of me in the checkout line at the supermarket had to ring up was a bouquet of assorted flowers. He informed the cashier that he purchases a bunch every week for his dining room table to uplift the seasonal doldrums. At the time, I thought it a great idea but didn’t act on it.
A couple of weeks ago, a dear friend surprised me with a florist delivery of a lovely array of red carnations, yellow daisies, purple Monte Casino, and green button poms. At first, I placed the arrangement on my hutch. Then, I moved the vase to the ledge on the pass-through between my kitchen and dining room where the flowers assumed greater visibility for me to admire throughout their longevity. Eventually, down to the carnations, until no longer thriving, it became necessary for me to consider acquiring a new floral arrangement.
Taking advantage of the local supermarket’s florist special, I purchased a half-dozen, long-stem, red roses and arranged them in a vase on top of my kitchen table. Every now and then, I glance their way to take in the comfort, solace, and tranquility their beauty offers.
Activists during the Sixties knew a thing or two about “flower power” for conveying an aura of peace and connoting good karma for mental health. Prior to the Hippie heyday, anarchist political activist and writer, Emma Goldman, is purported to have said, “I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.”
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It is really nice that fresh flowers are available up nort and down east during long dreary winters like the last one was. Yes, flowers have power to bring us tranquility and love. May it always be so.
Ron