Romance

5 years ago, when I was a naive, flowerless girl in the throws of my early twenties, I still associated Valentine’s Day with all the typical hooha – chocolates, those little inscribed sweet hearts, jewelry, candlelit dinners and a reason to pout over the counter at Tiffany’s. Mostly things that quite frankly made me want to gag  I did not enjoy.  Up until that point, I had only experienced a few rather anti-climactic Valentine’s celebrations and none of them included flowers, so my first V-day at the flowershop was a total gamechanger.  I was still a newbie, only a few months of training and a whole lot of vase breaking under my belt, but I’d heard rumblings around the Shop that had me itching to see if the holiday really lived up to all the hype.   As it turned out, V-day turned out to be every bit as thrilling as I’d been told.  Late nights giggling over endless buckets of roses and tulips, extra-strength coffee orders and the wonderful CF husbands and boyfriends bringing us take out, commending our loyal clients for ordering early and saving many frantic faces searching desperately for a last minute gift. The “thank you” calls we received from grateful clients. It was such an incredible experience.

Amongst the whirlwind, I noticed a trend going on between the Shop girls and our clients as they discussed their order.

One of the CF girls would ask, “What would you like to send?” and rather than recite a list of favorite flowers, the client would describe the person:

- She’s very modern and structured.  She likes clean lines, monochromatic colors.

-She’s a free spirit. She loves things that are wild and organic.

These were some of the responses I often heard.  The client would describe the lucky recipient and often how they felt about him/her, and it was our job to interpret it through flowers.   Our arrangements would not only represent who the person was, it would be a tribute to them as well as a conduit to express the senders feelings AND inspire that ever elusive emotion that is often the result of being romanced. Whew. Talk about responsibility.

ro·mance  (r-mns)  noun: a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.

Now here’s a definition of romance I can get on board with.  It’s not about proving something, it’s not about filing in line with the hoard, and it’s certainly not about emotionless gestures done out of obligation rather than honest desire.  Romance is about excitement and mystery. To me, romance is possibility, it’s new opportunity, it’s untethered freedom and the feeling that anything is possible and I’m capable of making it happen.  So naturally, the flowers and style I love are an extension of that: free, never forced, and a celebration of the color and form that only nature could make so incredible and unexpected.  In closing, and in an authentic attempt to come from the heart rather than a cheesy plea for you to “look inside yourself” or something, I want those lucky enough to have a Valentine on this holiest of floral holidays to ask themselves: What IS romance?

hint: the answer most likely includes flowers.

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