Mother's day flowers

This past Mother's day was the first where I felt like a real mom. Last year was a c-section pain killer haze -- this year was the real deal. I slept in until 8:30 and came downstairs to my two wonderful guys and a bouquet of flowers from the local grocery co-op. They were simple, in one of my favorite vases, and a perfectly beautiful way to start the day.

Flash back a year and a bit to Valentine's day of 2007. I was 6 months pregnant, my husband was traveling on business, and I had a 4-hour glucose test as my first test showed risk for gestational diabetes. I knew it would be a rough day, so I asked my husband the week before to just do something special. Didn't have to be big, just something on that day. At 11pm I got into bed, called him to say good night, and just asked "Really? Not even a little something?" I wasn't mad, but disappointed. I missed him, was drained from the test, and was just looking forward to a little pick-me-up. He said "Didn't you get my flowers?" Umm, no!

So, here's what happened:

My husband ordered a bouquet of Vera Wang roses from ftd.com. The shipping location had a huge snow storm, and the planes were grounded. The flowers arrived Feb 15 - not looking too good. They didn't open. I threw them out. Then when he got home, he tried to call to get the money back -- but he wasn't the only one with the problem, so the lines were all busy. Finally three days later, after worrying about how much they cost and if we would get the money back, he got through and FTD refunded the money.

Flash forward to Mother's day this year. They were beautiful, they were local, they had no brand name, they were not expensive -- and yet they were perfect.

Better with less? Definitely so.