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One Rose Changed My Life

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes, 3 seconds
One Rose Changed My Life

Love is Powerful, Magical,
and Never Dies!

I have always had a fondness for flowers, even though I may have unintentionally killed more of them by underwatering or neglect than those that have survived under my care. However, my indoor plants are doing well as I approach my second anniversary of living in Apartment 3B. I have been buying and placing bouquets on the counter before my sink. When I return home, seeing these small and beautiful flowers greeting me is a welcoming sight.

As we enter April, the raindrops fall, but we have flowers blooming in March in full glory. This season reminds me of a particular moment when a rose changed everything. It was the day I met Jan, and I decided to do a sunrise run for some essentials – milk, bagels, and cream cheese. As I stepped out of the bagel shop, I caught sight of a bodega just a few steps away. In the window display, I saw a basket of beautiful roses – their petals soft and delicate, with hues of pink and red. I walked over and picked a red one out – it was perfect. As I stepped inside, I noticed they also had a collection of greeting cards. The rose and the card were just what I needed to make my first morning with Jan memorable.

Lovers
Young Lovers

As I walked down the aisle, my eyes landed on a colorful card featuring Snoopy typing in scrambled letters on the roof of his doghouse. The front of the card had the words “I know I like you!” written in bold letters. Intrigued, I picked up the card and opened it to find a blank space waiting for a message.

With the rose and a card, I leaned on the Lotto table and found a pen to sign the card. After opening the card, I wanted to write a heartfelt message. Two competing voices argued in my mind: “Don’t scare Jan,” and “Follow your heart.” I briefly listened to both and changed the word “like” to “love.” Even if it meant risking rejection, I wanted to be honest with Jan. As I entered the courtyard, the saying that honesty is always the best policy came to mind.

As I approached the door, I could feel my heart racing with anticipation. I took a deep breath and knocked, and a few moments later, the door slowly creaked open. And there Jan was – the most stunning woman I had ever seen. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds in the light, and her smile was warm and inviting.

I wasn’t sure if you would come back,” Jan exclaimed, and I could sense a hint of nervousness in her voice. But then, as she looked down at the rose I had brought her, her face lit up with joy. No one has ever given me a rose. Thank you!” she said, her voice filled with gratitude and surprise.

At that moment, I knew I had made the right choice by buying the rose. When I opened my mouth to respond, a rush of words filled my mind. “You might have a problem getting me to leave,” I said with a playful grin, “but you’ll never have a problem with me returning to you.”

Jan didn’t have a vase for the rose, so she got a glass. We placed it on the kitchen table. As she turned to get her coffee, I took the card from my jacket and put it on the table next to her chair.

“I have something for you,” I said, handing her the card. She looked at me quizzically and asked, “Is this for me?” I nodded in response, feeling a mix of anticipation and nervousness. As she began to open the card, I stood by my chair, ready to leave if her reaction was adverse. I had experienced too many rejections, and the thought of being rejected once again made me uneasy. She opened the envelope and pulled out the card. I watched as she read it, wondering what she was thinking. Finally, she looked up at me, and I thought I saw hesitation in her eyes.

Jan, the love of my life
Jan, the love of my life

Jan and I stood before each other, peering deeply into each other’s eyes. Jan whispered, “Me too. I love you,” her voice quivering with emotion. At that moment, we both knew we had discovered something extraordinary. We hugged each other tightly, not wanting to let go. Our lips locked in a deep and passionate kiss that made my heart skip a beat. It was more intense than any kiss we had shared before, a sweet and lovely moment that seemed to last forever. I felt like I was flying, caught up in the moment’s magic. This kiss would have knocked my socks off if I hadn’t worn my boots. It was a moment that cemented our love forever, a beautiful memory we would treasure for the rest of our lives. True love is rare and unique, and I recall reading about how some people’s souls are split at birth and reunited when they find the one with the other half of their soul.

As our lips met, an overwhelming surge of emotions flooded me, unlike any I had ever felt. At that very moment, I knew that this kiss had sealed our love forever, and our souls were reunited. It felt like all my dreams of true love had come to life, and I was finally experiencing it in its purest form. This experience made me realize how one single rose can change our lives when that love is an eternal force that never ceases to exist.

If you liked this post, you should read When Richard Met Jan, written two years ago.

The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. All donations are tax-deductible.

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The God of the Woods: A Novel

Read: July 2024

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The God of the Woods: A Novel

by Liz Moore

I started reading “The God of the Woods: A Novel” by Liz Moore today. Several reviews recommended it as a great summer read. The story is set in August 1975, the same month and year my spouse Jan and I married. Liz Moore weaves a multi-threaded story, inviting readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances.

The novel begins with a camp counselor discovering an empty bunk at an Adirondack summer camp belonging to thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar, who has mysteriously vanished. Barbara is not just any teenager; she is the daughter of the family that owns the camp and employs many residents. What makes this disappearance even more intriguing is that Barbara’s older brother went missing similarly fourteen years ago and was never found.

As the search for Barbara begins, the novel unfolds into a thrilling drama, delving into the deeply buried secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow. This novel is said to be Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching work yet.

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The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War

Read: March 2019

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The Field of Blood

by Joanne B. Freeman

The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War by Joanne B. Freeman, Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University, is a must-read in our hyper-partisan times. The partisanship and divisiveness of the period before the Civil War have many parallels to our time, and the difference is the violence of the Civil War era. Professor Freeman recovers the long-lost story of physical violence on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

She can do this by first source materials from Benjamin Brown French. He was never elected to office but was an acquaintance of twelve consecutive presidents, from Andrew Jackson to Ulysses S. Grant. In addition, he maintained a diary for forty years that highlighted the violence and his and the nation’s political transformation.

During much of this period, he was the Clerk in the House.  His diary documents the violence that did not get covered by the press. Legislative sessions included mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests. When debate broke down, members of Congress drew pistols and waved Bowie knives. One representative even killed another in a duel. Many were beaten and bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance, particularly on the issue of slavery.

The Field of Blood is one of four books I purchased after my first One Day University class.

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Let Us Descend: A Novel

Read: November 2023

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Let Us Descend: A Novel

by Jesmyn Ward

Today, I started reading Let Us Descend: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward. She is a two-time National Book Award winner, the youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and a MacArthur Fellow. The book is a haunting masterpiece that is sure to become an instant classic. It tells the story of an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.

The book’s title is from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno: “‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.” Let Us Descend is a reimagining of American slavery, beautifully rendered yet heart-wrenching. The novel takes us on a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

Annis is the reader’s guide through this hellscape, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her. As Annis struggles through the miles-long march, she turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout the journey, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history, spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.

Let Us Descend is a magnificent novel that inscribes Black American grief and joy in the very land of the American South. Ward’s writing takes you through the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the South, making this novel a masterwork for the ages.

The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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I receive a commission when you buy a book or product using a link on this page. Thank you for supporting Sharing Jan’s Love blog.

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The Bully Pulpit

Read: October 2019

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The Bully Pulpit

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin is a history of the first decade of the Progressive era told by focusing on the intense friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

Although I had read many books about Theodore Roosevelt, I had limited knowledge about Taft until I read this book. Reading about their friendship and its eventual collapse helped me to understand both of these presidents and the times in which they lived in a way I had not understood previously.

The Bully Pulpit is also the story of the muckraking press, which arouses the spirit of reform that helps Roosevelt push the government to shed its laissez-faire attitude toward robber barons, corrupt politicians, and corporate exploiters of our natural resources. The muckrakers are portrayed through the greatest group of journalists ever assembled at one magazine—Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and William Allen White—teamed under the mercurial genius of publisher S. S. McClure.

Goodwin’s narrative is founded upon a wealth of primary materials. The correspondence of more than four hundred letters between Roosevelt and Taft begins in their early thirties and ends only months before Roosevelt’s death. Edith Roosevelt and Nellie Taft kept diaries. The muckrakers wrote hundreds of letters to one another, kept journals, and wrote their memoirs. The letters of Captain Archie Butt, who served as a personal aide to both Roosevelt and Taft, provide an intimate view of both men.

I recommend this book without reservations.

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We the Animals

Read: July 2024

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We the Animals

by Justin Torres

Today, I embarked on the literary journey of We the Animals by Justin Torres. This novel, listed among the New York Times’ 100 Best Books of the Century, is a groundbreaking work of art. The author of Blackouts immerses us in the tumultuous heart of a family, the intense bonds of three brothers, and the mythic impact of this fierce love on the individuals we are destined to become.

The narrative unfolds as three brothers navigate their way through childhood, a journey filled with emotional highs and lows, from playful acts like smashing tomatoes on each other to finding solace in each other’s company during their parents’ conflicts and even tiptoeing around the house as their mother rests after her graveyard shift. Paps and Ma, hailing from Brooklyn—he’s Puerto Rican, she’s white—share a profound and challenging love, shaping and reshaping the family numerous times. Life in this family is intense and all-consuming, filled with disorder, heartache, and the ecstasy of belonging to each other.

From the intense familial unity, a child feels to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this beautiful novel doesn’t just tell a coming-of-age story; it reinvents it in a sly and punch-in-the-stomach powerful way. It delves into themes such as love, the meaning of family, and heartache, adding another layer of depth and complexity to the story.

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The School for Good Mothers

Read: February 2023

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The School for Good Mothers

by Jessamine Chan

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan is a searing page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of “perfect” upper-middle-class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages.

Although it has been forty-two years since I became a parent, I still remember the anxiety of being a father. What if I could not be a good dad? Fortunately, I never had a bad like Frida. or lived in an age where parents would be sent to “a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion.”

Reading The School for Good Mothers was a reminder that solutions like this are possible unless we are willing to invest in families so that the skills and support are there to resolve any issues in the home. As a widow, I found Frida’s inner dialogue comparable to the early stages of my grief journey—the total isolation and fear of failing dominated my first months of mourning.

The School for Good Mothers had been on my book list since the middle of last year. I recommend it without reservations! Jan would have already read it, and we would be debating its fine points.

The Goodreads summary provides an overview,

In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

Until Frida has a very bad day.

The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion.

Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.

The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

Subscribe

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I receive a commission when you buy a book or product using a link on this page. Thank you for supporting Sharing Jan’s Love blog.

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