Petunias: Part I of III

Several years ago, Robb traveled on an extended business trip to Texas on a catastrophe team to bring relief and insurance funds to the victims of Hurricane Ike.  He was gone for 24 days or something like that.  Back then, i sure kept track.

I blogged this conversation of ours.  (To view the pictures and the original post, click here.)

Robb called last night to chat with me about his day and mine. Through the course of the conversation, he asked, “Well, how are the flowers doing?”

It turns out, he was asking about the beautiful bouquet he sent me earlier this week. It was vibrant and beautiful and the delight of my kitchen.

But I thought he was asking about the petunias in the front flowerbed.  We were into October, and those babies were dried up and ragged.  They had seen far better days in the spring and summer.

Please keep that subtle and important difference in mind as you read the following dialogue.

R: Well, how are the flowers?

T: Oh, they’re awful. Just awful.

Silence.

R: Really?

T: Oh, yeah. They’re just not pretty anymore.

R: They were pretty for a while, though, right?

T: Sure, but they’re just done. It’s time for them to go. I’ve been meaning to get rid of them, and I really need to put that on my list of things to do.

R: Do you think you can get a few more days out of them?

T: Honey, they lived a good life. They’re done. I need to toss them. Don’t you think I should?

Silence.

R: Well, they’re yours. You can certainly do whatever you want with them.

(Mine? They’re mine? The petunias are mine?? For heaven’s sake, no, they are not. We planted them together, but he has taken care of them all spring and summer, and it’s October. They’re not mine.)

And then I saw that glorious bouquet on my kitchen counter. Now, those are mine. Wait. Those are mine.

And it was at that point that I realized we had been talking about two entirely different topics, and I had seemed very unappreciative of his very thoughtful gift from a distance. I began correcting my misspoken words. Quickly. And I sent him a picture of those beauties, as proof that I really love them, and they really are beautiful.

For heaven’s sake. He should come home soon, so we can speak intelligently to each other.

Tricia Lott Williford

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  1. The link didn’t work for me either, but if you go to teachingtuckandty.blogspot.com and search for “petunias” it is the second post down.

  2. The link did not work for me, it seems it was wanting your credentials to log in.

    • Thank you for this heads up, Richard. I fixed it. 🙂

  3. This made me laugh for a good clip. Wow. Good stuff. I remember Ike. We didn’t have electricity for 3 weeks, and no water for 2 weeks. Or those might have been switched. But it sucked. And obviously there were people who had it way worse than us. I’m very thankful it wasn’t too hot when that happened.

  4. Ha! This reminds me of the scene in Fiddler on the Roof where Tevye and Lazar Wolf are talking about Lazar Wolf’s desire to marry Tevye’s daughter. But he didn’t specifically say what he wanted, so Tevye assumed that Lazar Wolf wanted to buy his new milk cow. Differing assumptions can make for interesting conversations. 🙂

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