Flower Power

Often bright. Typically colorful. Usually aromatic.

And always effective.

Flowers, for whatever reason, are the secret to a woman's heart, affection, and, most importantly, forgiveness. I can't say I understand it. To me, it's sort of silly. The process is typically the same:

• You present the flowers.
• You get a hug and a kiss.
• The flowers just sit there for a week or two.
• You throw the flowers in the trash.

Wouldn't women rather have something more practical like an iTunes gift card or a fantasy football team? Something that brings joy for more than a fortnight? 

I bought Bridget some flowers the other day. You can see them right over there. They obviously weren't very expensive, but they made Bridget really happy. I suppose it's because there wasn't really any reason for me to buy them. I was at work and decided to walk home on my lunch break with some flowers. After all, it's the thought -- those moments of complete surprise -- that really stand out in the long run. She had this big, old smile on her face when I walked in. And she has a really pretty smile, so that was nice. But it made me think two things:

1. Why flowers? What the hell is the big deal with flowers? Naturally, I went to Google to find out. I found a study that explained flowers make women more receptive to romance. In a nutshell, the study (from France, of course), said women were more likely to accept an invitation to a date if flowers were in the room. Eh. Good, I suppose, but that didn't really get at the root of my question. What was it about flowers that made women so happy? I found another study -- filled with three experiments -- that showed flowers really do make people happy. Yet another study, this one at Rutgers, said there were three possible theoretical explanations: a simple learned association, flowers could be part of an evolutionary response promoting food search, or flowers are specially evolved human sensory mood enhancers. (Put on the lingerie and turn out the lights!) Although not very romantic, it seems there's a lot out there to explain this flower phenomenon.

On to the second thought that crossed my mind ...

2. Why don't I buy flowers more often? I suppose every woman probably asks this of her mate. It only costs somewhere between 10 and 50 bucks, and the warm feeling lasts for weeks. Just buy me some more damn flowers, right?! Well, the thing is, that would really cheapen the whole thing. It would become expected. So, I'm sorry, dear Bridget, you won't be getting flowers every week. But from time to time, they'll show up at your doorstep. It'll (almost) always be a surprise. Because I think is that's spontaneity, that sporadic show of emotion, that makes flowers such a powerful force. It's either that or the food search thing ...