Gratitude: "I think you would rather have fresh flowers."

On this twenty-third day of November, with a heart filled with love and gratitude, Mrs. Dalloway is remembering her beloved, revered father who passed away nineteen years ago today. She laughs to herself wondering what he would think about her trading her law career to move into the magical sensory-filled world of flowers. She first sees him blinking his eyes in confusion. For it was Mrs. Dalloway who spent many years advocating for those in need beginning with her grandfather, Sam. Sam lived in a nursing home for many years toward the end of his life after having earned his livelihood as an employee of the P&O Railroad. Although the pay was meager, he did receive a pension and lifelong health insurance. And yet, the benefits for nursing home care had been removed from the company's packages around the time it was essential for him to utilize them. And so, Mrs. Dalloway's father, himself an attorney, indeed, the inspiration for Mrs. Dalloway to become a lawyer herself, asked Mrs. Dalloway to see what she could do to recover those benefits for Sam. Mrs. Dalloway was in law school at the time, and enjoyed the challenge. Ultimately and eventually, Mrs. Dalloway was able to secure those important funds for him through a settlement agreement with the Railroad which gave her great satisfaction. Mrs. Dalloway would continue to work in law and advocacy in a variety of ways over the course of her thirty year career.

At the same time, and for her whole life, however, Mrs. Dalloway has loved flowers. In fact, one of her first memories is of smelling a fuchsia coloured rose in her childhood home's front garden before she entered Kindergarten. Forevermore, Mrs. Dalloway would spend free time exploring gardens, learning about all things flowers, and invariably noticing them in her surroundings.

One day in September, 2003, even though his health was in severe decline, Mrs. Dalloway's father traveled to visit her in her new Bethesda home. Of course they went shopping together, one of their favourite pastimes, and at one of the boutiques, Mrs. Dalloway spotted a lovely petite silk floral arrangement that she thought would look pretty on her powder room vanity table. When she showed her father he looked directly in her eyes and said matter of factly, "I think you would rather have fresh flowers."

When COVID happened, she received an email from the New York Botanical Garden to take a zoom-based mini-intensive floral design course. From that moment she continued to deepen her passion and knowledge of flowers, this time through design, which ultimately led to her earning her certificate in Floral Design from the New York Botanical Garden, building a floral studio in her basement and buying the flowers herself.

And so, on this solemn day, nineteen years after his passing, Mrs. Dalloway knows that somewhere deep in his everlasting soul, her father does understand, and is smiling too. She is forever grateful for the example he set, his love and caring, making her laugh and for all the cherished family time spent together.