Spreading the Love in Lacey

There’s a lot of love in Lacey.

Today I saw Valentine’s Day from an entirely different perspective as I had the privilege of making deliveries for When I arrived at the florist, they threw chocolates, or “fuel,” in my purse and sent me on my way.

Squeezing into my miniscule Pontiac Sunfire along with flower arrangements, I made my way around town, hoping to “spread the love,” as the ladies at the flower shop say they do.

Nerves set in as I had put myself in a situation where I really had no clue what I was doing. I’m a writer, not cupid.

But as I rang the doorbells on Forked River and Lanoka Harbor homes, I started to feel the love. Grandparents opened the door stunned with big smiles on their faces as they received flowers from their grandchildren and said, “I can’t believe it” or “Look at what they did!”

To me, flowers were always a sweet gesture but never original. But to the recipients, the flowers made their day as they experienced love on a level that they may not see daily.

I filled myself with “fuel” and continued on my journey to the next set of homes. Even as I set flowers on stoops and porches for those who were still hard at work, I left knowing that these people would arrive home to a bundle of love in a vase.

Behind the scene at Every Bloomin’ Thing was intense as the florists worked quickly and without wavering. After 10 hours of work on the busiest day of the year, the ladies were still full of smiles and energy as they created masterpieces.

They sprayed the flowers, swept (and recycled) remaining greenery that fell to the floor and used their creativity to put each flower in the perfect position.

I always admired funeral directors because their jobs are more than just organizing a sad occasion. They have to be people persons. They listen to the stories, witness the tears and experience the smiles when the loved one of the lost remembers a comforting memory.

So it is with florists. If you received a flower arrangement from Every Bloomin’ Thing, I can attest that it was made with love.

The store made well more than 75 deliveries for Valentine’s Day but many orders were pickups. The vacant store next door was filled to capacity with arrangements. Gentlemen came in and out with roses to surprise their loved ones—wives, mothers and children—with flowers that I could only imagine will bring smiles to their faces.

As it was so nicely put in "Love Actually," a movie that follows the love lives of eight different couples, “Love actually is all around.”

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge—they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling that you’ll find that love actually is all around.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Lacey.