I am not blessed with the Home Decor gene. My house is filled with kitschy pop culture junk, stacks and stacks of books, and guitars. The only saving grace is my grandmother's paintings and my husband's outstanding photography. Otherwise, the theme is basically Salvation Army meets Entertainment Tonight circa 1985.
But I had to create a flower arrangement. It's a very special flower arrangement for a very unique birthday celebration. There's no color scheme or special theme. It's totally random: We walked into Hobby Lobby and I said, "Luke, pick out whatever flowers you want for your mom."
So....
We had to get sunflowers of course; they're her favorite. Luke picked a large yellow cabbage rose and a pink rosebud. The Colonel chose purple hydrangeas. I found some Shastas and an iris. We just picked what we thought was pretty. (And they were all half-price that day!)
We decided to get a big ceramic pot to put them in. We needed ribbon - Luke insisted on green, her favorite color. The ribbon needed little gold stick-on letters and I couldn't find them.
Ah! There's an employee I can ask. An employee who was quite obviously having the worst day of her life because she wasn't the cheeriest individual I'd ever encountered and she was almost positive there were no such things as little gold stick-on letters...
Dude.... we're in Hobby Lobby.
I just said "thank you" and found them myself right next to where I'd looked the first time, about 10 feet from where we were standing.
By the way, Suzy Sourpuss, I can assure you that whatever was stuck in your craw that day wasn't as bad as you thought. I've lived through the worst day of my life. If I can survive the reason I'm buying these silk flowers, I'm pretty sure you're gonna be okay. At least I hope so.
Anyway....
All these materials we gathered sat on my dining table for almost two weeks. One, because, like I said, I'm not adept at flower arranging, and Two, it was just hard. I don't have to explain why. I thought I might have Luke assist me, but he was busy enjoying his Halloween costume (already) and flowers are, after all, "girl stuff". The Colonel helped me though, four days before its debut, and he did very well. He even bought some extra accoutrements to complete the final product.
It looks great. A fitting birthday bouquet.
"Everyday I practice smiling.. And even more so if I'm upset. I'm hoping by making that facial expression I can ignite something inside to keep my head up. When I start down that negative thought path I'll find a mirror and try to smile. Yes I said "try" because honestly it takes a little while to pull my mouth into a smile some days.. It might sound cheesy, but sometimes it's the simple things that can make a difference."
#smile #nevergiveup #headabovewater
That's why I tried to smile when those birthday memories came up in my news feed. I had a moment where I couldn't smile at all after I went for coffee once The Colonel was on the road for the Wild West and I had to pull myself together at the traffic light at 71 and 7th Street. Then I went about my day, helping my parents clean out their cabin to get it ready for new owners. A cabin full of extra home decor by the way, because the other women in my family have the gene for that. It totally skipped me, but I think I did okay on the birthday flowers after all. Now I have another pink Christmas tree and a braided rug in my car. And two more of Mamaw's small paintings.
And hopefully, back at Hobby Lobby, Suzy Sourpuss is finding a reason to smile. Because despite it all, there will always be one, even if you're not the greatest decorator.
