A Different Valentine Celebration

I recently read a wonderful article about the beauty of noticing opportunities to lift those around you and gifting service above "things" at Valentine's Day. I loved this article, click here to read it! Great ideas about how to shift our concept of the holiday to a celebration devoted to kindness. I've been trying to do that everywhere I can here in the hospital, and it's really made for some wonderful experiences.  Then, when I learned yesterday afternoon that Justin had sent me Valentine flowers, I was so excited! What a huge treat! But my initial joy quickly turned to sadness because flowers aren't allowed in the ICU rooms. And then, to my surprise the most beautiful thing happened. I went to the desk to accept the package, and about 12 nurses were there waiting to ooh and ahh as I opened the box. It was a DIY box of wholesale multicolor roses with an empty vase, and soon I was preparing the arrangement with all of my latent florist zeal. One nurse offered to run fill the vase with water, another grabbed me the sharpest pair of scissors to trim the stems, and we all happily chatted as I handled the flowers. The arrangement turned out gorgeous, and they put it on prominent display on the desk. Now everyone passing through those ICU doors, with whatever stress they're holding, receives a moment of color and a breath of spring. My husband's beautiful gift suddenly became a blessing for everyone, and that is bringing me even more joy than if we'd been able to receive it in our room at the beginning. The photos really don't do the flowers justice. Thank you Justin, more than I can say!