My Thursday Surprise

Thursday led me to a small flower shop to buy a bouquet of flowers for a colleague who was leaving.  As soon as I entered, I knew something in me ticked.  I suddenly forgot that I was in the middle of a bustling commercial property.  Time stood still as I looked at rows and rows of pretty flowers in different colors, shapes and sizes.  A smile slowly formed.  I felt like Rosalinda*, in her flower shop.  My reverie was interrupted by a kabayan** who promptly asked how he could be of help.  I answered, albeit in a distracted mechanical manner, that I was looking to buy a bouquet.  Mr. Florist asked what her favorite color was and I told him I had no idea.  He then asked how I wanted the bouquet to look like.  My gaze shifted between looking at him helplessly and looking at the flowers in awe.  The roses, mums, lilies and hydrangeas all seemed to say, "Pick me!".  I was confused.  Forced to make a decision, I pointed at something blue, yellow, white, purple and green.  

While Kuya Florist was arranging the flowers I picked, I decided to make small talk.  I told him he was lucky because he is always surrounded by beauty.  I asked if it was easy to arrange flowers and he said it was.  I asked if he could teach me how to do different types of flower arrangement.  Kuya Florist said I could drop by after work or on Saturdays.  "Proomisssse?"  "Promise!"  I still couldn't take my eyes off the blue flowers.  I asked if they were artificially colored and he confirmed.  "Paborito mo ang blue, ano?"  (Blue is your favorite, right?).  He then decided to throw an extra flower for me and picked a blue rose (Good choice, Kuya!).  I beamed.


I then approached the owner who was manning the counter.  I told him I liked his shop and cheekily asked if I could learn flower arranging there and work on weekends there.  The owner was amused and said he would allow it but I won't have any salary.  I agreed and told him I would swing by one Saturday.  I was pleased with myself because I now have something new to do.


Kuya Florist approached me and showed the finished product.

After which, he handed me my special gift:  my very own blue rose. :)

I walked out of the shop feeling like a million bucks.  The blue rose seemed to catch everyone's attention and perhaps so did the mysterious smile pasted on my face.  I was the happiest girl in the world.


*Rosalinda was the name of the character (she sold flowers) that Thalia played in the hit Mexican telenovela of the same name.
**kabayan (aka kababayan) -  from the same country