Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Gift of Flowers

I had a colleague who was always very kind.  He would share this breakfast coupons from McDonald’s. Every now and then, he would give me a free egg McMuffin and a hash brown.  He also brought in treats for everyone to enjoy.  Some of the women complained that they were gaining too much weigh because of the goodies.  He laughed and shruged it off.  Then he would look at me, “well, you don’t seem to gain weigh no matter what I feed you.”  I never knew what to say to that.

It was Valentine’s Day, the day of LOVE.  Throughout the day other women in the office received their flowers.  My partner and I agreed that flowers were unnecessary because we were on a tight budget.  So to me it was an average day where I balanced the client’s accounts, wired money and returned a few calls.
I normally ate at my desk and enjoyed my spinach lasagna or chicken teriyaki.  Very rarely would I bring a lunch from home.  As I was chewing away, I received a call from reception - I received a package.  ‘It must be the cheque I’m waiting to deposit,’ I thought.

I normally would jump right away but I took my time.  I really wanted to eat my Valentine day’s lunch while it was hot.  A girl has to treat herself sometimes and that’s why I had a slice of cake.  I took my time as I savoured every piece of it.  After 30 minutes of "me time," and in my bliss.  I forgot about the package at the front desk. 
As I pushed open the door that lead to the reception area I saw a large bouquet of flowers. “Wow, who are those for?”  I leaned in and smelt them.  There was a dozen long stem roses dressed with a large bow and colourful wrapping.

“They’re yours,” she replied.

“No way, I don’t get flowers,” but secretly I really wanted some.
“Yes, they are yours,” she laughed at me.


I haven’t received flowers this extravagant before. 
I held them with great joy.  There was no note or card which I found that to be quite strange.  I didn’t call my partner knowing we agreed no flowers.  Did I have secret admirer? I took them to my desk.  They were huge that they didn’t fit in my work space.  I had to put them on the table behind me.  I didn’t remove them from the packaging because something deep inside me said they were not mine.  But, every few minutes I would hold them close to my heart and inhale their scent.

I kept looking for a card or sign of who send them.  The only thing attached was a business card.  It was a Chinese flower shop from uptown Toronto.  For sure these were not for me.  My colleague came back and I asked if he would help.  He spoke Chinese and I wanted him to call the store.  He didn’t feel comfortable so I waiting for another colleague to come back from lunch.

When she arrived she noticed the flowers first, “wow, someone really loves you.”
“Maybe so, but, I don’t think they're for me.  Could you please call the store and find out who sent them?” I asked.

She took the information from the bouquet and called from her office.  I stared at her door waiting for her to come out.  It took a few minutes because the store clerk was extremely stressed out.  One of their clients was angry that his wife didn’t receive the flowers and it was past 3pm.  His name was Mr. Chang (I changed the name.) That’s really funny because my male colleague’s name was Mr. Chang too.  The woman's name was Naomi Chang.  That was so bizarre.  The store delivered the flowers to the wrong floor in my building and since there was a “Naomi” and a "Chang" on our floor, I received these beautiful flowers.
My male colleague chuckled, “well, you know if we were married, you would be Naomi Chang.”

‘Oh boy,’ I thought as I turned away quickly.
The owner of the flower shop said I could keep them and they would send another bouquet.  It was too late in the afternoon and I decided I would deliver the flowers to Naomi Chang, myself.  I didn’t open the flowers I only smelt them a few times.  I gathered the bouquet in my arms and headed out into the reception.  I explained to my friend what happened and we laughed together.  I took the elevator two floors down and march up to the desk and said, “I have a delivery for Naomi Chang.”

I returned to the elevators and watched as Naomi retrieved them.  She was glowing and I felt a warming in my heart.  I knew I did the right thing.  Someone or something out there knew I would love them too.  Oh.. what a gift of flowers can do.

No comments:

Post a Comment