A facebook friend of mine recently touched off a firestorm of criticism when she wrote<\/p>\n
\u201cAt target and a guy is buying flowers here. He deserves a slap in the face. Don\u2019t buy your girlfriend a $5 arrangement from target.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When met with a maelstrom of\u00a0 negativity, she defended her position.<\/p>\n
When I get flowers from my husband, he uses a flower shop and pays good money for a great design. That\u2019s when it\u2019s really sweet to get flowers.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And then again with:<\/span><\/p>\n
To me it says \u201cI only care about you enough for $5, rather than the best flower arrangement I can find.\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
While her \u201cfriends\u201d took her to task for her materialism, selfishness, and thoughtlessness (and I\u2019ll admit that it was my first instinct to help pile it on); it raised some interesting questions for me as well.<\/p>\n
How many times have I complained about the things my husband or children do to show that they love me because they don\u2019t \u201clive up to my standards\u201d?\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about hundreds of dollars in flowers, but how often have I rolled my eyes at the 15th clumpy handful of dead weeds (\u201cflowers\u201d) I\u2019ve had to scrape off of my kitchen counter where my 3 year old left them?\u00a0 How often have I been irritated when my husband asked what I wanted for my birthday because he should know these things<\/i>?<\/p>\n
How am I so different from the girl who wants to slap someone for bringing $5 flowers when I get slightly irked that my beloved can\u2019t remember how I like my hamburger instead of being happy that he surprised me with lunch?\u00a0 There really is no difference between the two of us except that she\u2019s willing to have her selfishness out for the whole world to see while I\u2019m content to hide mine between a polite smile and a silent seethe. <\/p>\n
We tell our children that it truly is the thought that counts, but we don\u2019t truly live that.\u00a0 It sounds pretty to say, but the reality is that we (women especially) have these idyllic pictures in our heads of how the world should truly be.\u00a0\u00a0 But none of it is real.<\/p>\n
We didn\u2019t marry actors who are reading from a script so as to always arrive at the perfect line which is flawlessly delivered\u2026..and thank God for that!\u00a0 How would we ever live up to the perfection?\u00a0 Not to mention the fact that I think perfection might be a bit boring to live with.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d much rather spend my life with a husband who buys me a vacuum cleaner because it will save me time, or hides my presents in a maddening scavenger hunt because he likes the idea of being able to surprise me all day long, or brings me the cheap flowers because he saw them and they were pretty.\u00a0 Please, oh please, can I have sons who love me enough to rip the clover out of my yard and present me with the wilted greens, because girls like boys who bring them flowers?\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Please God, remind me, in the midst of my own selfish moments, that even if the world may not see me, my loved ones do.\u00a0 May I always be worthy and appreciative of the love they show me in the thousand tiny ways that may not be what I\u2019d wish for\u2026.but are certainly what I need.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A facebook friend of mine recently touched off a firestorm of criticism when she wrote \u201cAt target and a guy is buying flowers here. He deserves a slap in the face. Don\u2019t buy your girlfriend a $5 arrangement from target.\u201d When met with a maelstrom of\u00a0 negativity, she defended her position. When I get flowers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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