May | April Showers + May Flowers
This month’s theme is around the idea and expression of April Flowers bringing May Flowers. To give you another one, patience is a virtue, right? …one I do not have intuitively. Waiting for those warmer spring temperatures so I can release the chill of the winter months, waiting for that big release date, waiting for that callback, the positive test result, or that negative test result …waiting for the flowers to bloom. It requires a set of skills that my heart trusts and my brain debates.
Every once in a while, I’ll run into a friend or someone who I haven’t seen in a while with my kids in tow. You’ll get the “oh my goshhhh how old are they now?” kind of reaction to those long, ever-growing weed-like legs of children. It never fails. When I spit out their ages in year form, I’m met with a “but they were just toddlers yesterday.” While I am certainly aware with each turning birthday how fast those kids grow, I never considered the perspective of growth when you’re not watching it each day.
…and I take great peace when, even if it’s against my brain’s intuitive nature to force or make something happen or debate the patience that might be required to just read the directions of some assembly piece, to just take a step back. Take a step back and consider the opportunity that the waiting is actually as productive as the visual and tangible flowers that are about to bloom.
It’s in the actual rainy seasons and the waiting and the reading of said directions that progress is quietly happening …just behind the tangible scenes of our eyes. I am guilty of forever having my eyes on the prize, solving for X, and working out the algebra to get to the final singular answer. But if I’m not careful, I’ll miss a step. If I’m not careful, I’ll miss the fact that the weeds in my yard that came from the rain were viewed as wildflowers by my three-year-old. If I’m not careful, I’ll miss the quiet moments that allow me to live in a dream state or present moment.
If I’m not careful, I’ll miss the beautiful and silent rain that will bring all the flowers. If that’s not a reason enough to fill a vase, well then I don’t know what is.
For a more tangible taking of this May Flower Talk, I’m sharing some of my favorite ways to enjoy flowers …from your walls to your vases. I hope that whether it’s purely for aesthetic reasons or symbolizing a season of waiting, you find some blooms this month (and every month).
PAINTED PICKS
Painted florals are a great way to brighten up any space, any time of the year. Switch out your bright and summery floral painting with something moodier for those fall and winter months.
Emily Tingey is an artist favorite mine from Artfully Walls, a site FULL of prints and originals of anything under the sun.
PRESS THE PICKS
Press the picks your loved ones give you, whether it’s a stem from a curated bouquet or the search for a four-leaf clover from your back yard.
BACK YARD STEMS
You don’t have to bring out the wallet to have a really epic vase display. A drinking class and some oversized back yard picks can have a huge impact in a room.
Photo by: Kateryna Hliznitsova, @kate_gliz
ON THE WALLS
Obviously, I’m a fan of florals in pattern-form. It’s a great way to have a touch of floral all year round, that’s for sure.
If you are in a season of showers, waiting for those blooms, I hope you soak up that rain knowing the work is still happening. If you are in a season of reaping the harvest of what those showers brought you, I pray that waiting made those wet and soggy ways well worth the walk in your rain boots.
Go pick some flowers today, my friend.
