Beauty, flowers and dads

I love flowers. My husband knows this and brings them to me often for no reason at all. I don't know when this love of flowers began, or maybe it's been there all along. Or perhaps I just needed someone to begin bringing them to me before I realized how much I really loved them.

My friends now know that, when we throw a party or baby shower (which we throw a LOT!), I would be happy to do the flowers. Arranging them is the best part. I love sorting through the colors and varities looking for just the right matches to put in bouquets. Putting them in stem-by-stem to achieve something greater than the sum of its parts. Something beautiful that I made. If I ever arrange flowers and give them to you, it is most definitely an act of both creative expression and love.

I used to think that this was a random, quirky thing about me. Until one day I told my mom on the phone that I was arranging flowers for a friend's baby shower and loving it. She said in response..."oh you and your father!" I stopped dead in my tracks. "What did you say?" I asked her. She said "You know your dad loves arranging flowers too." I said "No - I didn't know that." We didn't say too much more about it but I now know this is something that I share with my dad. A simple act of creativity and beauty and balance that we both enjoy.

I love that my dad and I are put together in similar ways - otherwise, could you possibly explain this random quirk that we share? I was thrilled to discover that I shared this with my dad. I felt like God let me in on a little secret...something he planted in both of us that few people ever will know about either one of us...but something shared between us.