A few weeks ago, A's brother and sister-in-law became the proud parents to twin boys. We are over the moon excited for them, after many months of anticipation, planning and waiting for the babies' birth. While at work today, I had the thought that it'd be nice to send our sister-in-law a flower arrangement in celebration of her very first Mother's Day. I went online and picked out arrangements for her, for my mother, and for a sweet neighbor back in Michigan. Now that I'm gainfully employed again, it felt nice to be able to afford a luxury like sending gifts to loved ones.
After work, Samara and I met up with A and B for some family time, dinner and drinks. On the walk home, I casually mentioned to A that I had purchased flowers for those three special ladies, feeling a bit guilty that I had not sent an arrangement to his mother. I quickly added, ''But I know your mother, and she's not really the flower type, so that's why I didn't buy her any.''
A rolled his eyes and laughed. ''Dont worry, I took care of my mother already.'' I breathed a silent air of relief before asking, ''You sent her flowers?'' A replied, ''Yup, and I sent Christine flowers, too, so I guess she'll be getting two arrangements from us.'' Christine is our sister-in-law. I looked at him, wide-eyed. ''You sent Christine flowers, too?'' Neither Adam nor I is particularly great about gift-giving, so I was surprised that he would have had the same idea to send flowers to the new mom as I did. ''Yea, evidently you were thinking the same thing,'' he said, before adding, ''actually she's getting two arrangements from me because I got the address wrong when I purchased them. When I called the company to try to get it changed, they said it was too late and so they'd have to send another arrangement to the right address, but that the first arrangement would likely go to the right address anyway.'' So our dear Christine is getting three floral arrangements from us for Mothers Day. Apparently we are REALLY excited about her new entrance into motherhood. Apparently we also need to talk more about plans regarding gift-giving.
When we arrived at home, B in her usual style ran ahead of us, up the steep slope of the front yard and onto the front porch. I was wearing Samara in the wrap and so I moved more slowly. I heard B exclaim, ''Dad, we got mail!'' and then, ''What do you think it is?'' At that point, I realized we had a package by the front door. As I walked onto the porch, I saw the long box and wondered what could be inside. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a flower arrangement. My first thought was, ''I wonder who would send me flowers...and why?'' It took a couple seconds for my brain to connect the dots. I turned to my grinning husband and asked, ''Did you get me flowers?'' He replied, ''Maybe.'' We are not really the type to do flowers, an unnecessary luxury that costs money and only ends in sadness when the blooms wilt, brown and fall off. I bent down to open the box. Two dozen red roses, so beautiful. I gave him a kiss of thanks. A lavender bath set and box of chocolates were also included. I kissed him again. The red, red roses came with a daringly racy red vase that reminded me of the sophisticated, romantic rendezvous that we used to take in our youth back in New York City. I smile when I think how our children will never know the crazy young love side of us, a side that still exists but is hidden behind the duties of jobs and bills, parenting and commuting. The side that gets hidden by making everyone else's Mother's Day perfect and forgetting to enjoy my own. But that young love side of us still exists; A reminded me of that this evening. Even more than the flowers, I loved the special note he included in the box. While I choose to keep his words private, I will say they are quite possibly the most beautiful things he has ever said to me. And I loved it all, even if we're not the type to do flowers.
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