May is here! Time to buy mom some flowers!
Flowers are universal. They speak the same language across the country and around the world. There is no bad day to give or receive the gift of flowers. They are special any time. But on a day like Mother’s Day, they can mean the world to some very special people in our lives. Why do flowers have such an emotional impact? Why do they matter so much to so many women?
I’m no geneticist, but I’m pretty sure women are not born with a special gene that makes us get emotional around flowers. They say women can see more colors. So perhaps they are more capable of seeing the inherent beauty of flowers. But that doesn’t explain the strength of the reactions from women who receive flowers on special occasions. I believe the difference is more nurture than nature. Culturally, almost all of the special times in a woman’s life are marked by flowers. Consider the following list:
- boyfriends
- a first date
- sweet 16
- graduation
- weddings
- the birth of a child
- apologies
- the passing of a loved one
- a new home
…and so much more.
Many of these things happen on multiple occasions in a woman’s life. That list does not even include flower-rich holidays like Valentine’s Day. For some women, every important event in their lives is marked by flowers. Now consider this – a memory can be powerfully triggered by sights and scents. The look or smell of a particular flower at a particular time can send us as far back as the moment of our first love! So when you are choosing a flower to give your mom make sure that it represent your personality so it would be hard not to remember you every time she sees this kind of flower!
Once you’ve dedicated to give the gift of flowers, go all out. Don’t bother giving anything cheap or fake. Flowers represent a certain essence of life. The appearance, textures and smells must be authentic. This is especially true in a city like Las Vegas where everything is only a copy of the real thing. In a place like that, you want to take extra care to choose the freshest cuts available. It is worth doing a little research before you order. Whether for someone else’s special day, or flowers for a job well done, It is worth getting the best you can get.
We should not be insensitive to the fact that Mother’s Day is often an occasion for sadness and depression, especially for women professionals who are childless, and who’s mother is no longer with them. If you happen to be among the thousands in that category. there are some things you can do to participate in the spirit of the holiday. It is a mistake to fall into the pattern of thinking that the only women who get to celebrate Mother’s Day are Women with children in a nuclear family. That limitation is meaningless. The sooner we let it go, the better!
First of all, everyone has a mother. She may no longer be with us; but she helped to shape the person we are today. That is worth some remembrance. You might be the mother of a child who is too young to appreciate Mother’s Day. Perhaps you have no partner to shower you with flowers. That is no excuse for you to ignore yourself. This article on loving one’s self points out how difficult yet important it is for women to learn to love themselves and celebrate their own accomplishments. Even Valentine’s Day does not have to be national pity party day for unattached women.
Mother’s Day is also a good time to take a step back and acknowledge other women who are mothers, especially those tackling it on their own while balancing a profession. A gift of flowers and a word of encouragement and respect from you will go a long ways. Mother or not, we can all participate in the human celebration of motherhood. Man or woman, mother or child, flowers just make the celebration even better.
