BLUE FOREST SOAPBOX: Carnations in Winter

I read old Reader's Digests in the tub. Of course, now that they've bought into the present trend in media geared for people with the attention span of an ant I don't find it nearly as satisfying as it used to be. I don't even really read it any more - I just glance through. Sad, but this way I'm rarely tempted to stay in the bath too long!

So I was glancing through an old issue last night when my eyes lit on these words:

"Smell is a potent wizard

that transports us across a thousand miles

and all the years we have lived."

- Helen Keller

Somehow I thought immediately of carnations in winter... and I was indeed transported across the miles and down the years. I saw our wedding cake - that must have been the first time I ever really SAW a carnation. Then in another split second I found I'd traveled down the years, through all our anniversaries, to the almost tropical smell of the florist shop, the fragrance of carnations in a cold car - we foolishly married during the Christmas vacation - and memories of licking cream cheese frosting off the carnations... so many, many memories bound up in just that one fragrance!

December 27, 1975

(Notice the influence of Zefferelli's "Romeo & Juliet")

It's now 30 years since my first experience of carnations. I could be Churchillish and say thirty years of "blood, sweat and tears". That might be a bit melodramatic, but I would like to point out that if I'd held to the current views of my generation we would have called it quits rather early on. And that would be sad because it's definitely been worth it all!

For our anniversary this year I put together a slide show - threw together might be more acurate(!) since my energies were directed toward the 9 Lessons and Carols - of the highlights of those 30 years which we presented on Christmas day after the English worship service in Itayanagi. (If you want to see the slides click HERE.)

Abby sang, Sarah made a cake which wasn't quite on the scale of my sister's masterpieces but still quite delicious, and Yuko bought flowers (including carnations) to publicly mark God's gracious preservation of our union so far.