I’M JUST CURIOUS: Worries to colors

by Debbie Walker

Two women, Mary and Sue met on the sidewalk and started chatting. Mary is pretty well settled in her life; Sue is in the middle of a lot of life changes and is in fact, troubled. She decided to share some of her confusion with Mary. After talking for a while Mary told Sue, “I know just what you need to do, it’s helped me in the past”.

So Mary gives Sue an address of a woman she had met with on several occasions in the past. Mary explained that this lady lives on the corner of a well-established street and some of her neighbors are not very happy with her. They call her Mrs. Flowers because her landscaping is “over-run”, in their opinion, with flowers growing everywhere.

Mary said there was no need to call first, in fact, she didn’t know if Mrs. Flowers even had a phone. Just knock on her door with a plant in your hand and introduce yourself. She will welcome you inside with a wave of her hand.

She thought this was all rather strange. She was to go to this woman’s house, not even knowing her real name and just knock. Well, Mary did assure her she would be welcome.

The next day Sue went to a local nursery and bought a little flowering plant. She followed Mary’s directions to the house; she found it with no problem at all. The description of Mrs. Flowers was understated as Sue tried to take in all the different colors.

Sue took her time walking to the door, taking in all the sites and fragrances. She reached the door and tapped gently. In just a few seconds the door came open and she was greeted by Mrs. Flowers, a much older lady. She welcomed Sue into her home and put the flowers on the table. It was a smaller cottage type home and decorated with: you guessed it: Flowers.

As they walked to the living room Sue tried to take in all the sites inside this wonderful cozy home where she immediately felt at ease. Mrs. Flowers said, “Come on in, find a comfortable spot to sit and we’ll chat. Tell me what’s on your mind today”.

Sue described to Mrs. Flowers how she was going through all these changes in her life. She was recently divorced after a 40 yar marriage, her children were grown and scattered across the country, and she has just taken on a new job. She said , “I am feeling overwhelmed”.

They discussed her problems and at some point, Mrs. Flowers was referring to Sue’s problems, as opportunities. She explained that all of what Sue saw as problems, she saw them as opportunities to learn and grow with fewer limitations.

The divorce would allow her to concentrate on herself and things she might want to change. Sue had said she hated grocery shopping anymore. She found it difficult because she knew what her kids and husband would want for meals, but she had no idea what to buy for herself. It felt lonely. Mrs. Flowers explained that it was a wonderful opportunity to try new foods.

Her home felt lonely. Mrs. Flowers suggested Sue might try her hand at redecorating and please herself with her choices. At that point Sue looked around and realized she had already thought of a couple of things Mrs. Flowers had done here that she might like to try at her own home.

Sue’s new job was an opportunity to meet new people and to use her skills of running her home to operating a business. Some of the skills needed for this job were very similar to a schedule to run a business with.

Their chat had done wonders for Sue, she no longer felt overwhelmed and in fact she had things running through her mind that she was looking forward to doing with her new opportunities.

On their way to the door Mrs. Flower’s picked up the new plant Sue had brought, and her little shovel and they walked out into the yard. Mrs. Flowers dug the hole necessary for the plant. She told Sue, “Your flower represents the problems you came here with. Now they represent worries changed to colors.

As Sue looked over the yard, she realized at one time all these colors had been someone else’s worries. She walked out the driveway knowing that one thing she wanted to do was start her own flower garden.

Problems can be opportunities.
Worries can become colors
It’s all in how you look at things.