HOURS
Mon. through Fri. 8 am-3 pm
Saturday 8 am-12 pm
Opened 60 years and counting...
"It's anything but fun." She tells me.
"I don't like flowers." She tells a patron, about 10 ft. away from my office desk. "I leave here and don't want to see any flowers"
"Congratulations Nurse __ We are so proud of you! Grandma and Pop Pop" She writes on a card for another patron.
She's about in her late 60s. I think she's going to die this way. I hope not. Imagine dying, having spent the majority of your life surrounded by flowers.
I wonder if in her will, she requests there be no flowers at her funeral.
I want to ask her what her favorite flower is and why.
Her answer might be nothing and that she will never have one.
But I wonder what the little girl inside of her, trapped by vines and thorns, favorite flower is.
The irony of a floral shop owner not taking care of her own garden. Attending to others.
Why doesn't she just quit? Retire? Hire?
What if she never liked flowers, to begin with? What if she works here, out of courtesy for someone else? If that's the case then I would hate flowers for her too.
But what did flowers ever do to her and me? Besides, sit pretty and be cared for.
How can she hate flowers when people come in all the time with beautiful gestures in mind? Asking for advice on what flower or plant would be perfect for a friend with cancer, an anniversary, a graduation, or a death of a friend not really close.
This floral shop owner may hate her job, even her life, but she knows what she's talking about.
I wonder if she hates her knowledge. I wonder if she sought this information willingly, or if it was just an infestation brought on her like spots on leaves left in dry heat with no hydration.
I wonder if she's jealous. I wonder when the last time someone gave flowers to her.
Does she think these flowers need her? They're cared for, but I bet they will blossom more if cared for by someone who actually loves them. Flowers will always live on, long before she's gone. The flowers thrive after 3 pm and on Sundays.
There's a major difference between a floral shop owner who cares for flowers because it's their duty and one that wakes up every day eager to learn more about what keeps her in business.
Between a mother and mommy.
Between teacher and mentor.
Between getting someone the same dang bouquet of supermarket flowers and going to an actual floral shop and asking for advice.
I wonder if she dreams of flowers. Or has nightmares about them, where flowers suffocate her in her sleep making her beg for water.
I wonder what she wanted to be when she grew up.
One day I want to own a flower shop. And I aspire to give great advice that this floral shop owner does.
I hope she doesn't die in the floral shop. Surrounded by all she hates. What an awful way to die- being a floral shop owner who hates flowers.
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