What a difference a year makes

The ocean has been quite lake-like in the last couple of days. The air temperature has been on the cool side but still quite manageable reaching over 60 during the day. I say “manageable” after I see the weather predictions for many other locations around the country which today were fairing a lot colder and wetter forecasts. Amazingly the seaside weather is so unique that it is different from even just a few miles inland. For example, this morning as we were getting ready to go on our daily 5-mile walk, the TV weather report claimed that it was raining and 38F in Havelock, NC, which is just about 10 miles inland from here. Here it was very cloudy but at least 10 degrees warmer. And still it hasn’t rained all day and the temperature went clear above 60F. However I do see a change coming. The winds are picking up and the surf is definitely indicating that there might be a southwest storm on its way for us tonight.

This afternoon I went for a quick drive to the Lowes Foods grocery store in Cape Carteret. As I was driving, I noticed several indicators that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. First, several Helium-filled red balloons bouncing with each other in front of the Petal Pushers flower shop just a couple of blocks from here. Then, as I drove just over the bridge that connects us to the mainland, there was a big sign that advised readers to “order your flowers and plants early for Valentine’s Day". Once inside the food store, the signs could not be missed: Valentine’s Day cards, red balloons everywhere, chocolate boxes, more sweets than for Halloween and then anything red that could be packaged and sold.

Valentine’s Day does bring us a lot of memories. Just a year ago B and I were the proud owners of a fairly successful flower shop in Durham, NC. The stress of Valentine’s Day began just after the New Year’s celebrations. Reading the signs of the economic factors that could affect the demand for flowers a month later, making the estimations based on which day of the week would be the busy days –higher numbers if V-day falls on a weekday, not so good if it falls on a weekend--, recruiting additional staff, securing additional work space, marketing strategy, pricing scheme, delivery vehicles, placing the flower orders, ordering vases, ribbons, balloons, mechanical parts of arrangements and everything had to be in perfect working order ready for the day. V-Day is THE DAY for flower shops. Lots of stress, but if done well, this week could put your flower business in the black for the rest of the year.

This year, I almost forgot about V-Day, and what a difference it has made. In a small way I miss the rush of planning for V-Day, and of course, I miss counting the money at the end of the week. But everything in between, I’m happy to have almost forgotten. I wish the best of success to Kathy, the current owner of our shop, and let the US economy and the average consumer continue to support the small retail businesses around the country. As for us, this is going to be a quiet, relaxed, sandy and sunny, Valentine's Day at the beach. May we have many more V-days this way.