April 24th
April 24th, 2008 a Thursday
It's called Lily of the Valley Floral soap. The long, slim package holds 3 "cakes" and is made by Caswell-Massey who promises that their soap is biodegradable and not tested on animals. When given as a nosegay of these delicate floral bells on the first of May, Lilly of the Valley proffers wishes of good luck and happiness. Indulge yourself with the joyful and happy fragrance and its lyrical notes will fill your bath with the delicate fragrance of spring, providing a rich creamy, luxurious lather. Or you can place them around the bedroom, bathroom and inside drawers to infuse their beautiful scent throughout your home. On the box is an old fashioned drawing of a little girl and boy under a willow tree in a field of spring flowers. She is dressed in white stockings and a pretty light blue dress with her petticoat ruffle showing just below the hem and a blue bow in her sun kissed light brown hair. He is in pale red shorts with a royal blue jacket and brown belt, golden blond hair, hiking boots with socks over the top, handing her a bouquet of wild flowers. She is looking away, shy and demure. (OK, I didn't write all of that. Most of it is on the box.) At first you think that no soap can possibly live up to all of that hype. But inside the long box, each "cake" is packaged separately in a mini-box with the same full color artwork. The cake itself is wrapped in delicate pale yellow tissue paper which allows you to get a glimpse of its spring green color before it is even unwrapped. By now you have gotten your first magnificent whiff of Lilly of the Valley soap. I swear it is everything the box promises and more.
It seems silly, I know. But sometimes it is so easy to get down about things. I have a pretty good life as a teddy bear. Some might even say I am pampered. Sure, I could just loll around every day, looking out at the lake, having tea parties with my family of bears. I don't really have to work because I am well cared for by Mreesha, the Dutchman, and the two little Dutch Boys. But every day I get up and write my blog about whatever I am thinking about. It is a lot of pressure, let me tell you. What will the subject be for today, or tomorrow, or was yesterday's blog good enough? What if no one reads it, ever? Does it even matter?
The world is such a big place that sometimes it is hard to find out where you belong. Can you even imagine all the different things that might be going on right this very second in the world? People are dying (of old age, diseases, hunger and war), babies are being born (to happy couples, unwed teens, poverty stricken women), people are arguing, working, playing, swimming, running, eating, standing on their head, making love, walking their dogs, praying, looking for food, fishing, dreaming, feeling scared, taking pills, having heart attacks, surfing the web, driving, riding horses, going barefoot, meditating, falling in love, and learning to live alone. How are we supposed to figure out what to do every moment of every day?
I have a friend that I have never met. He took a walk one day with another friend along the river in New York City and said it was important to get up every day and spend time doing what you felt inside. It doesn't matter if it is a career or just a dream. You have to make it real by actually doing it, daring to think about it, acting on it, believing in it and giving energy to it. Those words he said really meant something to someone and he changed the world a little in that moment. It is great to have a real friend who believes in you even if you don't really know him.
Do you know that there is something called Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) which describes people who are obsessed with their physical flaws? Did you know that people are starting to get preventitive Botox shots in their 20's and 30's so they can skip aging altogether? See, if you start thinking about all of that, it can really get away from you.
For today, I suggest we all just find some Lilly of the Valley floral soap, daydream about simpler childhood times in fields of wildflowers, and let that luxurious scent take us away. All the problems will still be there when we come out of it. And while our eyes are closed, who knows what we can imagine. And how it might change the world.
GR
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