As I reflect on this past year, I am tempted to deny the pandemic its defining place in 2020 but to do so would trivialize the reality of loss that was experienced over the past 10 months. It would also trivialize the still and quiet beauty that was able to creep through the cracks. It feels weird not to make my weekly deliveries to Flannel or be able to frequent the flower district with such regularity. At the same time, I have found a deep meaning and purpose in spending more time at home with my kids, cooking dinner or simply walking outside. The gift of going outside, wow, it is healing.
When I think about the first two months prior to March, I think of Sarah Gregory. Not only is she a dear friend but the best sort of flower teammate one could hope for. We hustled Valentine’s Day flowers, dreamed up our Flower Clvb goals for the next year, designed a child’s birthday party and hosted our winter/spring flower gathering. Then the big shut down in mid-March came and it would be months before we would see each other again face to face or mask to mask.
Realizing that gatherings might not happen again for a long time, my husband and I put our creative skills together and made a flower tutorial video. He composed the music and edited the video and I designed the flowers. Much to our surprise, we found we worked pretty well as a team. More videos to come in the future. You can watch HERE!
Flowers sourced from @Dutchflowerline
As weddings were getting postponed, I decided to put all my energy into Mother’s Day. As a mother myself, I felt particularly passionate about getting flowers in the arms of both the mothers caring for their children 24/7 and the essential workers caring for the patients day after day with the same love and dedication of a mother. In many ways we all became mothers to someone or something during those first few months, whether it was caring for a sick loved one, making masks or delivering food to a neighbor. For mother’s day, I partnered with my downstairs neighbor Liz Sargent who is both an award winning filmmaker and wizard mask maker, as well as my favorite Brooklyn chocolatier, Fine & Raw to create gifts for moms, essential workers and anyone who needed some blooms of cheer.
Throughout the spring, I would take my three year old son on “industrial walks,” walks where we strolled along the sidewalks of warehouses so as to avoid running into many people. Even among buildings we did not fail to notice the budding trees and signs of life springing up in the small patches that adorn urban life. As it got warmer outside we eventually began playing ball in the park again. I grew increasingly thankful that walking outside was something we were able to do. Every night at 7, we would poke our head out of our back windows, clap, cheer and sometimes I would even cry. It was a daily release, a physical way to unload.
Like so many New Yorkers, the move that is always in the back of our minds became a real consideration the longer the pandemic lasted. June 1st we moved to Philadelphia, a relocation we had mulled over for some time, even before COVID. This was also the time of George Floyd’s horrific death. Months of deep reflection and listening ensued. I found myself doing a lot of gardening and digging deep into the earth. The racial injustice in our country cannot be glossed over. Commitment to showing up, educating myself and uprooting the bigotry and hate that have gone on too long in this country will be a task I continually dedicate myself to. Here is a link to a book I am currently reading called Just Mercy which is a good starting point for talking to friends and family about the racial inequalities in our system.
Considering the inequality in our country and world made me think of how my business was operating. Was I making room for the people of color around me to thrive? Especially having moved to a new neighborhood, I wanted to enter with both humility and intention. One of the first things I did upon my move here was connect with other local florists. Meeting the other florists in my neighborhood felt more important than trying to establish my business right away. To employ the practice of listening even in my business allowed for genuine friendships to begin. By connecting with a local farmer-florist just down the street from my home, I was able to both source flowers hyper-locally and assist her in some of the remaining weddings she had in the fall.
Kristen from Lunaria Gardens
When our family moved to Philly, we moved down the street from my sister-in-law, Stacey McDonald who is an incredible wedding photographer. Stacey and I began to collaborate. I would create arrangements and she would photograph them. My particular Dutch Master style paired with her ability to capture light in dark spaces made for the start of a creative journey that I look forward to continuing as the spring brings forth new life.
The fall weather allowed me the opportunity to design for a few “micro-weddings,”intimate gatherings involving a small number of family members and friends. These back-yard weddings proved to be some of the sweetest weddings I have encountered. Rather than working alongside wedding planners and caterers, I was working among aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters preparing the yard for the grand celebration of their loved ones. Weddings once meant for Brooklyn brides were relocated to Long Island, Boston and here in Philadelphia. Feeling so welcomed by families not my own, gave me a small taste of the sweetness that is awaiting once we all reunite again.
Speaking of reuniting, it felt so good to re-connect with my favorite flower advocate, Kelly Perry and her whole crew through the Team Flower Podcast. We talked about the role flowers play in bringing hope to the sidewalks and to a suffering world. You can find the podcast episode, Flowers Over Fear on the Team Flower podcast in your phone’s application. It was such an honor to be featured on a podcast that I have enjoyed listening to ever since my flower journey began!
Photography by Stacey McDonald
One of the last projects of 2020 was a community wide installation of flowers alongside mailboxes called United by Blooms. The goal was to encourage people to vote, to feel safe voting by mail and to get everyone to make a plan. Without knowing what would ensue weeks later, the sincere effort of florists all over Philadelphia turned into a true sign of banning together on behalf of hope for the days to come. The neighbors I met during my installation, I pass frequently during my neighborhood strolls. The United by Blooms community is one that continues to work together on projects that I look forward to coming alongside in future months.
Something I will forever attribute to COVID is learning how to cook. When we lived in Brooklyn, I was never that interested in cooking because we were always on the go, we did not have a kitchen table and our kitchen was so small that cleaning was always a dread. When we moved to Philadelphia, we had our first official table and we placed it in the center of our home. Quite literally it is the focal point of our new living space but the table has also served to ground our family each day. As a mother, I rarely sit and it is something that has caused us to all sit TOGETHER. I quickly became more interested in making creative meals for our family to share. Having a kitchen table is also motivation to adorn it with a few blooms. Little did I know that come November, my husband would be diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that required severe diet restrictions and changes. As weddings slowed down towards the end of fall so did I as I began putting more energy into cooking healing meals.
As I look forward to the year ahead, I am praying and speaking words of abundance over the year. Perhaps abundance will come in a form we do not expect but that is my hope for 2021 and I am believing it for every person, animal and speck of earth.
Reflect upon your present blessings -- of which every man has many -- not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.- Charles Dickens
