A Birthday Corsage

I am wrapping florist's tape on the stems of the roses

Our work table

Janene Martin composes the corsage with flowers, greenery and ribbon

Yesterday was my birthday. First of all, thanks for the many well wishes. And for those of you who did not wish me well, you know who you are...! (Just kidding!)

Furthermore, for those of you who need to know, I was born in 1960.

I had the privilege of spending my morning with Jaeine Martin, the lovely friend of Mika Roland, who is here visiting from Australia. Janine had graciously offered to teach me how to make a wrist corsage, so we gathered our materials and began to create yesterday morning.

As with all artistic endeavors, there is a great deal more than meets the eye. Underneath all those lovely blooms and fronds of greenery are neatly wired and wrapped stems. The wrapping helps keep the moisture in the stem so the flower holds up longer. Janene was wonderful about educating me as we walked through the process together.

I learned how to test a rose for freshness. I pinch it at the base. If it is hard, it is fresh. If it gives easily, it is old and will not hold up in a corsage.

Working with those beautiful orange roses yesterday was a tremendous symbol of what I believe birthdays should be for women over 50. Birthdays are an opportunity for us to affirm the beauty and meaning of life for the younger generations. Our lives can show that life can be beautiful and pleasant because we walk in love. We have lived long enough to see both good and bad things happen to ourselves and to others around us. We are old enough to have experienced joy and pain. By this age, we have usually experienced loss of loved ones and have walked alongside others through grief. And, through all of these experiences, we have added texture, color, layers, depth and perspective to our lives. We are on display, whether we realize it or not. And we really can allow God to arrange our experiences, our wisdom, our hurts and our joys into something quite lovely and hopeful for the next generation to admire and aspire (to).

(And I hope, even if my body is not as "fresh" as it once was, that my spirit will feel "fresh" and "firm" when I feel the pinch of the Almighty, through tests and trials that he allows in my life, my stem wrapped neatly in his love, keeping that moisture flowing into the blooms that are my life!)

--Posted by Mama O.