Where have all the flowers gone?

"You look like a guy who buys flowers and arranges them himself" the florist said when I was scanning the shelves.

"I don't know about the arranging part, but, yes, I like to put them together in my own way" I replied.

To me, putting together the flowers that I buy is like the cooking that I do.  I put together the ingredients, and it might not be anything that formally trained people do, but I have fun with it. I like how the food turns out. Arranging flowers is no different.  And, I get that personal satisfaction of , "hey, I did this!"

She gave me a couple of suggestions and walked back to her counter, and I continued with staring the flowers. I was, yet again, amazed at how much I don't know. I didn't know the names of most of the flowers there. There were a couple of them that I was not sure whether they were even flowers at all--they were green!  Yet, in the classroom, I pretend that I know stuff, and get paid for that!

I asked the florist about the green thingies, and she told me what they are called.  I have already forgotten the names of those green thingies; I suppose that's how students are in my classes, too, eh!

"Hi there, neighbor" a voice said. "Are the flowers for a special friend?" she asked with a smile and twinkling eyes.

I hadn't talked with her for a while--in the cold and wet months, we neighbors are mostly strangers to each other. When the colors of the landsccaped and wild flowers burst upon us in the April spring, we too pop out of our homes and stay out and about, until the leaves turn red and brown and fall on the ground in November.

"Yes, but it is a sad thing. A friend who is not well." I quickly recapped the story.

"Those are tough. At my age, I shudder at those thoughts" she said.  Understandable--she is more than two decades older than me.

"But, we have to do them.  Your friend will appreciate it" she continued.

"Hey, what are you doing for lunch today?" I asked her.

"My daughter is coming over."

"Ok, we'll have lunch at my place sometime the week after" I told her.

"Oh, I would love that. Make your cauliflower dish; I like that one."

I reached the counter with the rest of the groceries in the cart. It was one of my favorite chatty clerks.

"Ooooh, is somebody in trouble, or what!" she laughed.

"I look like I am always in trouble, eh."

"You men always get into trouble" she laughed some more.

"Or, maybe he is doing the right thing" said the woman behind me in the line.

"Exactly, think positively that I am doing the right thing" I said.

Knowing enough about small talk means that we should also know when not to get into details. I gave no hints about how the flowers were to cheer up a friend.

Isn't not getting into details also the case when we ask people, "how are you?"  In their lives, too, friends could be unwell. Maybe someone close to them died recently. Or, the pet dog is sick.  Or they got fired from their job. But, they mask it all and reply with a smile "good. How are you?"

Rarely do we tell all.  Sometimes a tad and, more often than not, we don't reveal anything about our own tragedies. Because, we innately realize that everybody has problems. We somehow manage and cope and survive.

And we know that flowers help.  Even when not the best arrangement ever.