Romancing the Ordinary and Giving Second Chances

I thought of Katharine Hepburn as I divided and clipped my roses. I continue to re-read an old article in Architectural Digest that says that Kate (I feel like I can call her Kate now that I've read the article, oh, about a million times.) alway kept flowers a little past their prime. When friends encouraged her to throw them out, she always accused them of "not giving the poor fellows a chance."

My Valentine's roses, all together in one vase with their greenery and baby's breath, had admittedly begun to droop. "This is for you, Kate," I said, and smiled, as I re-cut them and distributed them all to different locations around the house--two on my husband's bedside table, one in a champagne glass on the kitchen table, and the rest in antique amber tobacco jars on my north-facing window sill. And to the roses, "Here's your second chance." They perked in response.