Flower
Power
Written
by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
With everyone sheltering in place
and having to make decisions about how to get everyday necessities like food,
medicine – and that elusive commodity toilet paper – we’re also having to
decide what's essential to us.
"I always have flowers in my
budget," says SurfWriter Girls friend Kathleen Mulcahy. Even now she finds
flowers for herself and her friends at the farmers market in Santa Monica just
a few blocks from her home. They may not seem essential to some, but for
Kathleen they're therapeutic.
Kathleen isn't alone in needing
flowers in her life. French Impressionist Claude Monet said, "I must have
flowers always and always."
Remembering her days living in
Europe, Sunny says flowers are a part of people's everyday lives there.
"You always see flower boxes on the windowsills and flowers in the
gardens."
In Japan, where flower arranging is
an art, people stroll in the parks to see the cherry blossoms in the spring.
Hawaiians gather flowers and make
them into leis – a symbol of love and aloha – and give them as greetings.
At a time when some states are
telling stores to sell only "essentials," it may be hard to determine
what those are. What about art and gardening supplies to be creative, a board
game, puzzle or video to share with the family, batteries for the TV
remote or computer mouse to stay connected?
In deciding what's essential we
can't underestimate the value of these non-essential things or the power of
flowers to lift our spirits...
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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to
this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them
at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to
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