05/05/2025
Long post alert!
Hydrangeas have a special place in my heart — they’re my true favorite flower. About 16 years ago, we planted ten or so hydrangea bushes off the back porch (friends have joined them in the years since). And you know how with flowers it can be a “love the one you’re with” situation? And who can blame us?! When I’m holding daffodils, and ranunculus and anemones in the spring, they’re the best things I’ve ever seen, until the peonies show up. And then the hydrangeas, followed by too many summer flowers to name. And let us not forget the Queen herself come fall, the dahlia. So why hydrangeas? They don’t even smell good! Well, dear friends, it’s because they remind me of love. And not just any love, but Keith’s love. We got engaged on Martha’s Vineyard in August, when it’s covered in hydrangeas. I carried purple hydrangeas down the aisle, where my bridesmaids waited with their own hydrangea bouquets in white. Even our wedding cake was covered in fresh hydrangeas. And this year, I’ll finally get my ridiculous hedgerow of hydrangeas that will remind me of Keith and Martha’s Vineyard all summer long. That’s what flowers are about, y’all. It’s not just that they’re pretty and they help us celebrate our milestones. They actually work their way into our long-term memories and take us back to wonderful places and people in ways that bring smiles deep in our hearts. And so it only seemed fitting to cut this first bouquet of my very favorite flower on my birthday morning. Happy May, y’all. 💙