Gift From the Heart Paved With Roses

How many uses for rose petals can you think of? For a long time only two sprang to my mind: a bath with petals à la Cleopatra and a shower of petals over newlyweds walking out of the church. Three years ago my husband showed me a different one, with his gift from the heart.

Tuesday, 11 September 2012, 7 a.m. I open my eyes to discover that my husband is no longer in bed – a fact that is extraordinary in its own right. I turn over and am enchanted by a huge bouquet of ruby red roses. Except from our wedding, I have never received such a bouquet before. My first instinct is to jump out of the bed to smell, touch and count the roses, but I stop in mid-air, just before my feet touch the ground. For the roses are not only in the vase on the table: they cover the whole carpet and sprawl out to the kitchen and the bathroom.

So I sit on the bed and take in this beautiful view. But the longer I gape at it all, the more I realize that the petals are neither evenly nor randomly distributed. I examine them further. If they were to form some words, they must have been distorted. They also don’t represent any shape that I can recognize. I am almost about to give up when my proud husband exits the kitchen and provides an explanation:

“I paved your morning paths with roses,” he boasts. “The first place you always visit is the bathroom. Then you walk to that chair to pick the clothes you prepared the previous evening; you fetch breakfast from the kitchen and eat it with me at the table. After that you go to the bathroom once again to brush your teeth; you pick your bag from the corridor and leave the house.”

I guess he must know my morning routine better than I do since I didn’t get it. But here it is, exactly as he said. I may now do exactly what I do each day, treading with each step on petals .

Even though not all days of our married life are paved with roses, the day of my 25^th birthday definitely was. I wonder if you can come up with more unusual uses of rose petals, especially ones that you know from your own experience which can become a gift from the heart. Don’t hesitate to share them!

My advice:

• Petals should be acquired a day before, in the evening, so that they are still fresh. You may collect them for free at a spot with numerous florists, especially if you buy a bouquet, too. Just remember to sort them and throw away all decayed and trampled ones.
• If you have a dark or patchy carpet, you should consider using white or cream roses in order to make them visible. Moreover, this way your gift from the heart will be less likely to leave stains when stepped on.