$18 Well Spent

I could've gotten a manicure.

I could've bought a new shirt.

I could've bought a nice meal.

I could've bought a book or two.

But I bought flowers.

Beautiful, glorious, delightful flowers.

They called to me. I tend to be a "flower shop only" girl. I never buy flowers from the grocery store. My first job was at a florist, so I was trained to recognize quality...and there really is a difference.

But these? They called out to me while I was choosing my fruits and veggies at Trader Joe's. The creamy white hydrangeas, the soft lavender stock, they were begging to come home with me.

Two bunches of hydrangeas (6 stems) and one bunch of stock (10 stems) totaled $18. I looked at them, sniffed the stock, but considered $18 too much to spend. So I walked away and went back to picking out the best tomato on the display.

But I couldn't get the sweet, spicy, clove-like fragrance of the stock out of my mind. "They would make my room smell so wonderful," I told myself.

And the creamy hydrangeas. I love hydrangeas. I work every year to get my little hydrangea plant to blossom, and I hardly get any blossoms for my efforts. But these giant, creamy blossoms would fill an entire vase on their own.

"Do I? Or don't I?" I asked myself. "Eighteen dollars is a lot to spend on something I don't necessarily need." I began daydreaming about how they would look in my room.

"The colors are so soft and delicate; I could place my Chornicles of Avonlea book beside it, and it would be so sweet and shabby chic," I thought to myself.

"And then I could move Granny's perfume bottles, the little hankie from Miss Shirley, and a pair of gloves next to it. That means I'd have to dust off my dresser and do some rearranging. It's about time I did that anyway, right?" I asked myself.

And that's what I did. I brought the flowers home, did some cleaning and rearranging, put my favorite square glass vase to use, and created a little oasis of happiness in my room. And I was right...the stock's fragrance makes my room smell wonderful.

The lesson I learned today: splurging is OK. I didn't go into debt for it. The world didn't come to a crashing halt because I treated myself to something nice. The space time continuum is still in tact. This was $18 well spent. What is it about flowers that make a girl feel like a lady? I like that feeling.

Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into. 

Henry Beecher, Life Thoughts, 1858

When was the last time you splurged on yourself? What was your splurge?