This sunday was mother’s day. Chris’s mother and Grandmother live nearby, and we were having them over for dinner.

One of the gifts we wanted to give them was flowers. A few years ago, I suggested to Chris that we give his grandmother (who is notoriously difficult to buy for) a dozen roses. She was delighted, saying she’d never recieved a dozen roses before. Now, it’s a good bet to give flowers.

Chris also has learned to rely on my arranging skills. Florists are basically crooks, in his opinion. He knows I can throw a bouquet together and make it look just as good for a third the price. I love arranging flowers, so that works for me.

So he went to Costco and bought flowers. Roses, lilies and tulips.

I would never have bought those three kinds of flowers together. There is a sort of principle of flower arranging. Some showy flowers, some filler, some small, some large, etc.

These three were all showy.

But that’s what I had.

My instructions were to make three arrangements, One for his mother, one for grandmother and one for me.

As I arranged them, I thought that it was a metaphor for marriage. On my own, I would not have picked these flowers. On his own, Chris would have not gotten flowers at all.

But between us, we created these things of beauty:

They were a hit.