Sublime

Sublime: the key feature of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The whole storyline is filled with uncertainty and fear, but throughout the mystical creature’s journey he finds refuge in the sublimity of the mountains. These past few months have been all uncertainty and fear. I’ve felt helpless, and frankly a little guilty. So far, my family has been blessed with good health, and every day as we assume our positions in the living room for another round of Netflix binging, we wonder what else we should be doing. There has to be something, right? Well, just as Netflix asked if I was still watching, I received a text that revealed my small role in this quarantine journey. I grabbed my face mask, put on my slippers, and reached for the flower cutters.We are all desperate for social interaction at this point, but how much social interaction can you acquire from six feet away? A lot, honestly, if you’re outside in a garden. The garden serves as the perfect spot for responsible socializing. The first aspect of this responsible socialization is inviting friends over to cut some flowers. There is plenty of space to keep your distance when you’re outside, and there’s even more space to spread positivity. Sounds a little cliché, I know, but imagine how much brighter that Netflix bingeing would feel if there were freshly cut roses and peonies on the table.Spreading positivity leads me to the second part of being responsible while staying in touch with your community. Allow yourself to be a little creative and put together a flower arrangement to bring to a friend. Perhaps you just rolled your eyes because I just said “put together a flower arrangement” like it’s something simple and obvious we’ve all been trained to do. I am certainly no expert in the field, which is why I suggest a nice style of winging it. It does not matter how random and un-curated this arrangement looks, it matters that you attempted to share positivity and light through the petals you chose to (semi) carefully stuff into that vase. This arrangement may not be described with the same elegance as the mountains in Frankenstein, but it still has the opportunity to serve as a mini sanctuary for the creator and for the recipient.