toss the box

i do adore sweetly scented unpredictable yellow roses

Ah, crap!  Valentine’s Day is Saturday - gotta make the reservations, grab the expected red roses, obligatory frilly box of cheap chocolates…dress-up, suck-it-up, put on the happy smile.  Sounds more like work or a sentence than a communication of feeling.

Why do we think we have to perform to the beat set by media, the norm, the predictable?  I, personally find that a phrase of soppiness that is made exclusively for me, is sweeter.  The tagline, “it’s the thought that counts,” is spot-on.

Let me give you a dirty example from a few remembrances back.  I enjoy being outside and wanted to create a new sitting garden.  It would be surrounded by heady lavender with a small gazing pool in the middle – and of course a bench to sit and well, gaze at whatever.  This was all in my mind’s eye, because the area was just straggly grass.  There were no pieces of muted slate marking a path, no steppable plantings that released their earthy fragrance when a foot pressed on them.  The lovely vision was merely a pipe-dream.

This is where my Sweet Remember-er came in.  You see, he takes notice of the 

things that I yammer on about.

My new Anthro came today and there’s a cute little dress…Oh, wouldn’t it be nice to have a place to sit and spoil ourselves in the back yard … I’ve been wanting to pick up that cookbook about salt...yada, yada, yada.

You get it; all those things that come out of our mouths without even thinking.  But, sometimes people are listening and making a mental note of those silly mutterings, which was the case with my sitting garden.

Guess what I got?  Yep, a giant load of dirt.  Not the icky clay-stuff that was native to our area, but the really good soil that is light and crumbles easily in your hand; full of humus and nutrients.  Plants beg to be planted in this substance.  My pile-o-earth even came with the labor to get the garden going.

The whole paying attention thing takes a bit of work.  It doesn’t come naturally, as we (meaning me) are pretty self-indulgent.  We think about ourselves and what we want; can you say, “Selfish- craving?”

I’ll just grab the box of chocolates and call it good.

Here’s the task for Valentine’s Day – by the way it’s Saturday, so you need to get on with it – create, prepare, purchase or do something that is special and specific for the one who is receiving your attention.  If they like peanuts buy a bag, sit on the front porch and spit the shells on the ground.  Maybe, they want you to read a comic book to them ‘cause they are way into old-school super heroes.  Even if they are chocoholics, you can suss out something out-of-the-ordinary.

Be meaningful; forget the predictable, toss the frilly box …

Missy

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