Thursday, March 28, 2013

metropolitan diary




A Gift of Flowers


Dear Diary:
I had an unusual experience recently.
The morning seemed like a run-of-the-mill weekday. I had just dropped off my daughter for school on Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope and was waiting for a friend and fellow mom to emerge from her car to chat when a man came out of DNY Natural Land. He was carrying a bouquet of roses.
Feeling a bit playful, I addressed him. “Oh, for me?” I asked, expecting a smile and a polite brushoff.
But something entirely different occurred: The man looked me full in the eye, grinned, and said, “Yes. For you!” then handed me the roses.
“Ha, ha!” I laughed and handed back the bouquet. Or tried to. He refused to accept them.
“No, no, you can’t mean this!” I screeched.
“I do,” he insisted, and walked back into the store to buy a second bouquet.
What could have precipitated such a generous act? Had the love of his life just accepted his proposal? Had he snagged a new job or promotion? Or was he simply glad to be alive on this beautiful wintry morning? I’ll never know — only that a stranger on the street initiated an unexpected act of kindness. And for that, lovely, anonymous man, thank you.

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