“A rose for my gorgeous rose.” he said with a wink and a smile. The lovely pink rose was an article of delicate perfection. Things had been a little tense between them lately, and the simple gesture of love was just what she needed.
Reaching for the beautiful flower, Carey gushed. “I had better watch out for thorns.” but as the flower touched her fingers it wasn’t a thorn that pricked her, and her smile faded. The hard plastic scratched her hand, and the false gesture tore at her heart. Of course, the flower was perfect. All phony flowers come out of a mold, identical to each other in almost every way. Carey sniffed lightly at the flower and sighed sarcastically, “I had better put it in water. It smells so nice, and we want it to bloom and flourish.”
A puzzled look splashed across Mark’s face and his impish grin turned to a frown. “But honey, the flower isn’t real. Did you think it was?”
A single tear trickled down her cheek, and she quickly dabbed it away. Carey thought about their relationship and how strained things had been. How real were his feelings for her? Although he professed to love her, and seemed to demonstrate his feelings in many ways, she had sensed a falseness about him and an emptiness in his eyes that hadn’t been there in the beginning of their fairytale romance. The fake flower had seemed like an insincere gesture to Carey.
Carey leaned forward as she brushed the lock of hair from her eyes that had fallen out of place. Her look was pensive as she asked me “What do you think? Am I being overly sensitive? Maybe I’m looking at this wrong.”
The air was thick with negative vibrations, but my own thoughts drifted to the many times that I had received velvet roses, stuffed bears and glass trinkets in my romantic relationship. My own feelings were far removed from Carey’s as I had been delighted and flattered. How special it was that he had thought of me and wanted to bring me a small gift to show his love. Why did she feel so differently in her relationship? There had to be something more to it than just the falseness of the pretty little flower. Perhaps there had been other more important signs that the relationship was in peril.
“You should always pay attention to your feelings” I suggested. “There must be a reason you’re thinking this way. Maybe some other problems?”
Carey sighed and looked away. I could see that I had struck a nerve and I heard the pain in her voice when she said, “I’ve tried so hard to get along with him. He is just so difficult. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
Are there times when we are oblivious to the signs…even when they are flashing like neon lights right in front of our eyes? Do we hear the alarms when they ring loudly in our ears? It’s important to be alert and aware. Ignoring the warning signs can cause small problems to grow into bigger ones which become harder to deal with. When a relationship is in peril, you have to tread lightly.
Carey and Mark were able to work things out with love and understanding, once they saw the problems and dealt with them. She keeps her artificial rose bud in a vase on her nightstand along with the ceramic angel Mark gave her for Christmas and the singing dog she received on Valentine’s Day. They are the last thing she sees when she goes to bed at night, and they greet her at the beginning of every day. They make her smile and so does Mark.
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