Flowers for Valentine’s Day are over-priced and overly-familiar, two things that should be avoided at all costs. But flowers on any other day are welcome and adored, appreciated for their beauty as much as the unexpected delight they produce. I was reminded of that when Andy returned home from a trip to the market with this beautiful bouquet of lilies and irises, two favorite flowers that transformed the entire house with their cheery visage and intoxicating perfume.
It wasn’t just the happy connotation with summer and sunnier days that they produced, but the unexpected pleasure of their appearance on an otherwise-unremarkable and ho-hum day. That’s the mark of a good husband: anyone can check the boxes off for a holiday – it’s the ones who check the boxes on all the other days that are to be cherished.
The soft pink and purple color palette at work eases these mid-February days, when the whole world feels constricted and bothered by winter. Andy and I have been mostly keeping inside, cozy ensconced near the hearth of our home, quietly marking and inhabiting each day as it passes. We watch the elongating light, the way the sun begins making rainbows for longer periods in the bedroom as it passes through the crystal-topped finial of a lamp. Spring feels closer now, almost within grasp.
