Pick Me a Bouquet

I’m the middle’un in my family, sandwiched between a “perfect” older sister and an unexpected younger brother.  From the get-go, I was a “challenge” for my parents. Apparently, I cried A LOT and I was the first of their children to require a hospital visit. Honestly, as a parent now myself, I would consider young me to be a dang good kid – I didn’t do any of the “really awful things”, got excellent grades, excelled at the things I put my mind to and was as trustworthy as the day is long (i.e. I’m a TERRIBLE liar!). The problem was that I was the consummate questioner of rules and the possessor of “a stubborn streak a mile wide” (or so says my dad!). I guess you could say that I never out-grew my “why” stage and drove my mom and dad to become frequent users of the “because I said so” parental clause. I often wonder if my mom gave me things to do just to escape the questioning (or maybe the sass?). Anyway, two of the summer tasks that were always mine were making biscuits for strawberry shortcake and picking a bouquet for the kitchen table. I would run barefoot across our gravel driveway to the garden and select my favorite blooms from a full garden-length row of zinnias.  I would carefully arrange them into a glass or vase until they suited my fancy, center them on our kitchen table and wait for my mom to smile and admire them (which she always did). “Go pick me a bouquet” became a task I delighted in and ultimately there was no need to be asked…I had an unspoken invitation to create that I took full advantage of!  These days I live too far away to bring my mom a weekly bouquet, but I still delight in sharing the beauty and joy of flowers with, well, anyone! I guess I owe my mom a big thank you for sending me to the garden and for teaching me to love flowers.

So, if you need some beauty, creativity and joy in your life “go pick a bouquet”! (or find a local flower farmer to pick one for you! #grownnotflown)

'Uproar Rose' Zinnia