There were two moments this past week when John blew me away with his grand display of thoughtfulness. I think if you were to ask John, he'd probably shrug it off and callously say that he was just doing what I'd told him for weeks I wanted someone to do. There is a chance he may have just been trying to shut me up, but I'm going to put this in the category of "Romantic Gestures" and not just ordinary old "Compliance."
For weeks, ...WEEKS I tell ya, I had been wanting to find some pussy willow branches.
I love pussy willows!
They remind me of spring.
They remind me of my Grandma.
They remind me of my childhood.
They remind me of everything good in the world.
I asked all around town, scoured back alleys, drove out to neighboring hamlets in search of them, and finally found a giant pussy willow tree at the edge of a campground right here in town! Actually, I knew it was there all along but was hoping to find a tree not owned by the town. For some reason the thought of pruning a public tree without permission scared me a little.
Sam, Jess and I dressed in black one night and with pruner shears in hand, drove down and stealthy grabbed two pathetic twigs before running back to the safety of our getaway car. It made me want to cry every time I looked at those pathetic sticks, and it made me want to disown Sam every time I recalled his ridiculous antics during that midnight caper.
But still, there they sat, in my vase - two stupid twigs each one baring just a couple of pussy willows.
I was tired of searching. Tired of trying.
And then one day, at the end of a particularly discouraging day for me, I went into the kitchen to talk with John and low and behold ...
the most beautiful bunch of pussy willow branches ever!
Does this picture do it justice? Oh I hope this picture does it justice.
It is big. The branches are big. The pussy willows are oh so plenty and oh so soft.
As the story goes, John was running errands with Jessica when he took a little detour on the way home and stopped right in front of my dream pussy willow tree. He pulled out a handsaw, and right then and there, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, he walked up to that tree and cut off a limb, acting like it was no big deal at all.
No cover of darkness?
No black clothes?
No jumping fence and whispering so as to not get caught?
Who knew?
Sometimes late at night when everyone else is asleep, I go out into our family room and turn on just the one light that shines over this bouquet. I sit on a couch and stare at this arrangement and think of how John gathered those branches for no other reason than that he knew it mattered to me.
And it really makes me smile.
We've been trying to create some flower beds throughout our front and back yards which has been really an enjoyable process. One thing I've been hoping for is two Dogwood bushes. I love the color of Dogwoods. They are native to this area and you can trust that they will do well, and they remind me of my Edmonton days as they grew in abundance along the North Saskatchewan River.
I think I could have probably ordered them from somewhere, but I also knew of a little ditch just outside of town where they were growing wild. Again, I'm not sure if it is okay to dig up a plant that is growing wild or not, but I worried that doing so might get us in trouble. I talked often about it, but you can bet I sure would never be brazen enough to just go take what I wanted from a ditch.
One day I came home from a doctor's appointment to find that, in true John fashion, he had gone and gotten me two of the most perfect Dogwood bushes I have ever seen.
I hope and pray that this was legal and okay to do.
But you know, the thought that John is willing to face a fine, or jail, or worse, just to make me happy ...kinda makes it all feel worth it somehow;) JUST KIDDING! I really do hope this was okay to do.
It just kinda makes me smile.
