Old Girl has Flowers and a Cat

I read somewhere that having fresh flowers in the house is one of four ways to be a happier old person. Another one was standing up straight, but I forget the other two. There’s only so much advice I can take.

I almost always have flowers on my desk. And I often light a candle especially if the task I’m doing or the people I’m talking to are somewhat noxious or tedious. These two enhancements are enough to mute the potential disruptions to my office ambience threatened by the cat using the litter box or a bag full of post-it notes falling from the top shelf of my bookcase.

This week’s flowers are tulips. I bought them at Trader Joe’s. They probably came from Mexico and will cost a trillion dollars next time I buy them but for the time being (the week before the big bad tariffs go into effect), they are lovely and hopeful. There is probably no more perfect flower than a tulip. I was going to say symmetrical, but a tulip isn’t actually symmetrical. It’s voluptuous which is better if you’re looking for signs of life and happiness.

When I was a very little girl, my mother made me a dress that had tulips all around the skirt. When I grew out of the dress, she took it apart and made curtains for two narrow windows in our basement. When we moved, the curtains came along and so I grew up with the tulips on my dress even though they became curtains.

So, tulips are emblematic of many things to me – durability and ingenuity being two – though I don’t grow them. I don’t grow much actually, so tulips shouldn’t feel offended. I do appreciate tulips and roses and other flowers I can’t name, and I think it’s important to have them around, especially while standing up straight. The combination is powerful for old folks.

And then there’s having a cat. It wasn’t one of the four ways to be a happier old person but it should have been.