Pink Roses or Undies?

"Flowers really do intoxicate me." ~Vita Sackville-West

When money is tight, which is too often the case, tough decisions must be made. Like any red-blooded lady I love lingerie…pretty, lacy, satiny or utilitarian white cotton, when what lies beneath is new I’m giddy. Sure, I love the sweet confections Victoria Secret displays. Nothing says girlie like sheer pastel panties edged in frothy lace. Who doesn’t want a matching bra with just a touch of push ‘em up function? However, if I have to choose between new undies or roses, I’ll choose roses.

"Flowers are the sweetest thing God ever made and forgot to put a soul in." 

                                                                             ~Harriet Beecher Stowe

Over the years I’ve heard all the reasons why I should not spend money on fresh flowers. Flowers are a waste of money…They’re going to die in a few days…Flowers are frivolous and self-indulgent. If I can’t eat a plant, I don’t grow it or buy it. I wince every time I hear one of these joyless reasons why I should not sprinkle my life with flowers. Ok…point taken, but not entirely understood and I’m not planning to take any of these reasons to heart in the near future and probably not ever.

 “A flowerless room is a soulless room, to my way of thinking; but even a solitary little vase of a living flower may redeem it.” ~Vita Sackville-West

To counterpoint reasons offered I suggest a small experiment. Anyone who feels flowers on the table or desk where you spend your day are not worth the money, take a crowbar and pry open your purse for one small bouquet of flowers or even a single stem. Place the flowers where you can see them and enjoy them all day. Take them home with you in the evening so you can continue to observe the beauty. Did your spirits lift each time you noticed the colors? Did you wrinkle your nose with pleasure each time a breeze from unknown sources stirred the air, swirling fragrance about you? After a few days, tell me if you didn’t find even a shred of joy in that single rose.

“The Amen! Of nature is always a flower.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

It’s that shred of joy that awakens my spirit and causes a sigh that makes purchasing fresh flowers worthwhile. I wonder why fresh flowers are so important to one and not another. I wonder what gene pulsates through my body making something so beautiful, so ephemeral so important to me. Each time I walk past a bouquet of flowers I stop for a moment and I feel blessed to be in the presence of such splendor. I am overwhelmed by the miracle of such perfect imperfections of nature. Something stirs in my soul and I know without flowers that a little piece of my heart would die and fall into oblivion.

A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring.”

~William Carlos Williams

I have no answers as to the why’s and perhaps it’s a waste of time to question, so I’ll continue to live as I always have under the mantra…I’d rather buy one single pink rose than a dozen pairs of pink silk undies.

"You love roses - so do I.  I wish the sky would rain down roses, as they rain from the shaken bush.  Why will it not?  Then all the valley would be pink and white and soft to tread on.  They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet, and it would be like sleeping and like walking all at once!"

~ George Eliot