Unexpected burst of spring

It's Valentine's Day. There's no one special in my life right now, so I wasn't planning on doing anything to mark the day. Which is fine by me.

But as I was showing out the handy man this afternoon, he pointed out a large box that was waiting at the front door.  "You got flowers!" he grinned. 

Completely puzzled, I picked up the box. It took about 30 seconds to realize that the flowers had been misdelivered. No clue who the person on the address label was. 

Then I had sad thoughts about someone waiting, hoping that her boyfriend would remember the day and send flowers, only nothing ever came. Or maybe the sender was deployed in Afghanistan and was sending the flowers because he couldn't be there today. 

I don't like sad thoughts. 

Fortunately, the phone number of the on-line flower company was included as part of their return address. So I called their 800 number and got a real, live person and explained the situation. Then I got put on hold. 

While on hold, I read the rest of the address label. Oops! The address they were meant for is literally right around the corner. I had just not registered that fact, because the street has two different names. At one end, it is Bay Road. At the other end, near me, it is named after a Famous Historical Personage from colonial days who lived in this town, let's call it Ward Street. Only no one ever calls it Ward Street. It is always called Bay Road. Or Route 106. But not Ward Street. 

Now I'm feeling all sorts of guilty. I could have walked the box of flowers down to the right house in about the amount of time this phone call was taking. 

The customer service rep got back on the line. "We've worked it out," she said. "You can keep the flowers." 

"But what about the person who's supposed to get these?" I was a bit stunned. "It's Valentine's Day. I don't want someone sitting there thinking her boyfriend forgot all about her."

"No, we have it covered. Just enjoy your flowers!" 

So now, lovelorn and alone on Valentine's Day, I nonetheless have two dozen red roses in a very nice ruby red vase. Lovely, pretty flowers that I don't deserve. That's what you get when you try to do the right thing, without reading the address carefully first. 

There's a lesson here. Doing the right thing pays off? Read more carefully next time? Don't be so quick to blame the delivery company? The universe is a strange place and we should appreciate it more?

Whatever it is, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!