Am…musings

I’ve written a post about flowers before , but as I reflected on the true origins of this one, I started thinking about the person that taught me that if something sounds too good to be true … it probably is … my Rockport Elementary 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Schlueter.

There are people in life that are turning points. For me, many teachers made a difference, but Mrs. Schlueter had the most positive impact of them all. Before her, I had caring teachers and I had critical teachers, but Mrs. Schlueter combined both of those attributes. And for some reason, the tough love she delivered made me stand up and listen. Before 5th grade, I was a somewhat-above average student with potential. After her, I really began to care about my performance and began to excel in school and extracurricular activities (of course, Shar’s pushing made a huge difference too).

What does that have to do with flowers? On Tuesday I needed a pick me up and headed to Trader Joe’s, which has great prices on flowers. I’m always enamored by the mixed bouquets, but decided to go with a singular bunch of flowers I discovered in Orlando … the gladiolus.

I’d always been afraid to buy them because they are typically inexpensive (even at the grocery store) and Mrs. Schlueter taught me a lesson about things that don’t cost what they should … they may be too good to be true. Luckily, my Orlando-based friend Grace once had a bunch I inquired about and she shared that they are cheap, beautiful and long lasting. After that, I started buying them fairly regularly.

Here are the $4 Trader Joe’s gladiolus after four days ….

Gotta love ‘em … and of course, I’m always grateful to Mrs. Schlueter!

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 pm and is filed under random thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.