What’s the Point of Flowers?
This trope of gifting flowers to your partner seems rather tired, until it’s not.
When my husband and I were first dating I told him, “You don’t have to get me flowers. They’re pretty pointless, after all.” I didn’t really understand the point of it at the time and I was eager to be a low-maintenance girlfriend (because at the time I was still struggling with my fear of being loved). So he bought me a live succulent.
Flowers are the peak of frivolity in a sense. You can’t eat them, they are ephemeral and temporary. They don’t really serve any particular function, and maybe that is the point. As I’ve gotten older and after 2 years of a pandemic, I’ve begun to appreciate the fact that beauty and enjoyment are enough. If seeing and smelling flowers brings you joy, then that is enough.
My husband has been working longer hours and our schedules don’t match up like they used to, so for most of the week, I spend my time working alone, eating alone, sitting at home alone. It’s a little depressing, honestly. And the other night, he came home with flowers. I almost started crying.
He took me out for bubble tea on the weekend. He brought home Chipotle for dinner the other night.
These little gestures may not seem significant, but they mean so much. They are compassionate gestures that show he…
