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| The last few blossoms of my lily bouquet. |
Having fresh flowers nearby always makes me smile. I don't know if it's that stereotypical girl thing, where it is ingrained in us to like flowers and want them given to us as presents, but I'm leaning more towards a personal preference as I know many girls who consider fresh flowers to be a waste of time and money. The exact opposite of how I feel. In all truth, my instincts tell me this love of flowers on the kitchen table or office desk is primarily influenced by my mother. She always had fresh flowers around, always bought a bouquet for the home, for the host when she was a house-guest elsewhere, for special occasions, even if we were just invited to dinner at the neighbors. While her European roots consider this behavior to be ordinary and expected, it is not as common in the US. Sure, we are known to buy flowers for birthdays, anniversaries, when a friend or family member is in a stage production, funerals, and of course, Valentine's Day, but fresh flowers do not carry the same commonplace role in daily life as they do in many other places.