I surprised Elysha with flowers on Sunday.
I bought flowers for Clara in celebration of her dance recital, and I bought flowers for two of Elysha’s former students who were also in the show, but I also bought flowers for Elysha, recognizing that throughout this year of dance, she has been responsible for all of the elements of Clara’s performance for which I am incapable:
Hair. Costume. Rehearsal and show pre-show, when men are not permitted backstage.
Unless, of course, you’re Donald Trump, and you own a beauty pageant, at which point you purposely go backstage to stare at young women in various states of undress.
His words.
Hair and costume and pre-show routines may not sound like a big deal, but it all involves a 14-year-old girl with strong feelings about her appearance. It also involved at least one YouTube instructional video on how to make Clara’s hair do something I’ve never seen it do before.
I thought that flowers were the least I could do.
And I did a good job. I chose a bouquet of colors that Elysha loves, and when a few of those flowers were less than ideal, the florist asked me to select a second bouquet, and together, we combined the two into something I thought Elysha would love. I had the flowers wrapped and tied with a bow, and they looked great.
An hour after the recital, I entered the living room to find the bouquet somehow disassembled and even more beautiful after having been rearranged by Elysha.
It made me think of Clara’s hair:
This, too, was something I could never do well, as hard as I might try. And yes, it may seem like a small thing, but to someone without the skill, aesthetic, or good sense to do something like this, it’s impressive.
It’s always a glorious thing when your spouse can do something wonderfully lovely that is so seemingly impossible for you.
It’s good for Elysha, too.
Whenever you can do something so ordinary and easy for you that others see as extraordinary and impossible, it’s a huge win for you.
These flowers, sitting atop our mantle for the past week, have been a huge win for all of us.
