For some strange reason which I have never been able to understand, I don't particularly care for roses. On an intellectual level, I know they are beautiful and they have a wonderful fragrance, but they just don't appeal to me. In my opinion, their beauty is formal and unwelcoming, and their fragrance is too sweet. Certain roses do look beautiful growing in a garden, but even rose gardens seem to be rather reserved and -- formal. I have never been overjoyed if someone were to give me a bouquet of roses.Ho-hum...
Wild roses, on the other hand, are exquisitely beautiful. They grow with abandon, and they seem to say, "Stop and stay with us awhile. Let's hang out together and enjoy the sunshine." I have never been able to pass wild roses without stopping for a few minutes. When I was a little girl, there were wild rose bushes at the side of the road on my way to school. I would stop and admire them, and time stood still. I still remember the warm spring mornings, and the joy the wild roses gave me.I have lately been contemplating making a career change, as in downsizing. Our company is going through a major reorganization, and I am hoping (hoping...!) I am one of the folks who is to be reorganized out the door. There comes a time when we need to concentrate on ourselves. Working full-time, I have no time for my hobbies and interests. I love to paint, but I have no time -- or energy -- after working flat-out every day. The clock doesn't stop for any of us -- the seasons speed past -- spring, summer, fall, winter, spring, summer, fall, winter... What do you think, folks? Should I take the leap, and once again stop and smell the roses? Maybe I'll even do some paintings of them...
First George Clooney, and now roses!
ReplyDeleteYou are positively iconoclastic.
I hear you loud and clear when you say you're hoping to be freed. I feared it mightily for a few years, and now I long for it.
I don't particularly care for roses either. I especially don't like their smell. I love lilacs and sunflowers. I think I love to paint. I need to get the paints out and do it again. For a long while, I needed to paint every day, but now it has been months since I've done it.
ReplyDeleteI don't really like Clooney either. I don't like the movies he is in either.
Jo, if you can do it, go for it! Hopefully you will be getting a nice severance package and can afford to take it easier.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have already made up your mind and are waiting for that final push from an outside source. I have been feeling the same myself. This park was supposed to be a turn-key operation that would require only maintenance. That has hardly been the case and after 7 years of barely getting by ... all the income has gone back into the park ..... I am burned out. Our current economy hasn't helped at all, and coupled with the loss of health insurance.
ReplyDeleteStop, this is about you, not me! I say go for it! Not a rose fan myself, I prefer daisies. They are happy!
Don't say anything at work until you find out if you are slotted for the door - hopefully, there will be a generous severance package which will help you on your way. I know how much you've been dreaming of being able to do what you desire - painting, etc. - so go for it! By the way, my faves are tulips, lilacs, and calla lilies. :D
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm in the minority by loving ALL roses, wild and cultivated. Just thinking about them reminds my sensory self what a rose smells like.
ReplyDeleteI think you have really made the decision already, Jo. You need to spend some time just (I love this word): chillaxing! :-)
Go for it!
ReplyDeleteI'm with DJan. Once you start thinking about it, you have made up your mind. If you dreaded it... then that would be obvious, too.
ReplyDeleteI say go for it. If you can afford it... do so. It is amazing how fascinating life can be!!
The greatest part of life is taking chances and new beginnings. I say....do it. Don't look back and enjoy it and whether you like them or not (I do) take time to smell (or in your case) paint the roses! Let us know what you decide!
ReplyDeleteI love to GET roses, but the scent can be cloying - & I don't find rose gardens pretty at all. Give me a blowzy peony bush & I'm a happy camper :)
ReplyDeleteI had a period of time where I hoped I would be downsized - I knew the severance package would be really nice & my job was so hectic. But then I got cold feet & transferred to another department instead. I'm glad I did - MUCH less stressful job now. But if I were in your situation I would strongly consider taking any package they offer & running with it!
If you will be able to get by afterwards, then go for it... working worlds are frequently relentlessly empty of meaningful sustenance, where today profit rules and all creativity is subservient to it. Best to return to your art... life is short...
ReplyDeletelol.. Jo you definitely go against the grain,very cool.. more reason for you take a leap!!
ReplyDeletehappy blogging
- Sy
You are a wild Canadian rose masquerading as a "lady."
ReplyDeleteAnd very well I might add.
Miss ya at da beach...
Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
if you can take the leap, then do it!
ReplyDeleteyou could grow wild roses and then
paint them.
Go for it. It's great fun having the whole day to do with what you want.
ReplyDeleteNothing on roses, but the heading made me think. We don't really stop to smell the roses way enough. Not just the roses, but all flowers big and small.
ReplyDeleteIf you are ready, you should do it. It's not that you won't know what to do with yourself but quite the opposite, you will finally have time for your own self.
ReplyDeleteIf you recall, I did something similar last year (although I still do some consultancy work) I am taking the time to develop spiritually, emotionally and to recover physically. I think it was a good decision.
Nope. I just love roses. Any kind. Sadly, the ones we get at the florist seem to have no scent at all. (Cape Town)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with what your future might bring. Change is a good thing. :)
ReplyDeleteI will always have a soft spot for roses because my Grandma loved them and she spent many hours pruning her rose bushes into submission.The scent makes me think of her.However I love big wild shows of flowers like...Hydrangeas. I also adore Cosmos.I love that scene in "The Color Purple" when Celie is standing in a giant field of purple Cosmos, just love it.
ReplyDeleteI think you should leap into your next adventure, paint and read. Put the juice that your job has been sucking out, back into your life. You are so talented.
Oh, I hope, with you, that you are shown the door. Having to stay behind would most likely be unbearable (and so much more work).
ReplyDeleteI am also with you on the roses.
Knowing my own retirement is just months away and considering how much I am looking forward to it, I'd say YES! Let them make you redundant and then go ahead and be anything but!
ReplyDeleteJo, good luck to you. I hope you can escape the treadmill soonest.
ReplyDeleteSomebody once remarked:"If work was so bloody marvellous then all the ruling class would have snapped it up immediately."
Some work is good, but only if you ENJOY it. Otherwise it's just WORK!
I completely agree about the roses. I forbade my husband many years ago to send me hothouse roses any more. They lack any personality in the flower world.
ReplyDeleteGive me wildflowers of any kind any day!
Sometimes it's so hard for us to do what we know is ultimately best for us. We have all these responsibilities to our family, our co-workers, our bosses, and our careers.
I'm kind of hoping you'll get downsized. Sounds as if you're ready for it. Best of luck!
I think I read that 90% of our cut roses come from Columbia and Ecuador. To make them hearty for traveling and disease resistant, most of the traditional rose smell has been bred out of them. They are now a flower without a fragence.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lesson in that, I think. Something to do with maximizing the short term at the expense of your soul. Or something like that.
Do what you want. It is YOUR life. But don't act too hastily. We have to be somewhat pragmatic even while chasing our dream.
Maybe you can work less hours or a 3 or 4 day week....
I left work last year and I love the freedom. If you can get out, go for it!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is allergic to roses so we only have them outside. I love tulips and daffodils.
I'm not a roses girl either... that doesn't mean I'd send them back to the flowershop (just in case anyone's listening!)
ReplyDeleteI agree about roses. I have one miniature rose bush to which I do absolutely nothing and it grows in a wild profusion amongst the iris, shasta daisies, peonies and chrysanthemums... until frost. As for stopping? You have so many gifts, Jo. Take a lesson from someone who did not stop until her health MADE her stop. Now I am going after the artistic dreams because I cannot be "responsible" and work full time. You deserve the exploration, the fulfillment, the joy--it would match the joy you give us all from your blog. So there.
ReplyDeleteI love what Russell said!
ReplyDeleteI think you know what I think about this issue.
ReplyDeleteI love English country gardens in which everything grows all over the place, untrimmed and undisciplined in any way. I also love wildflowers, and while the scent of some cultivated roses is exquisite, the form of the plant is usually too severe for my taste. And I don't love thorns.
Oh I love roses and the look and smell of em but dont agree when most people say that a rose is the most beautiful of all flowers. Perhaps they havent seen itsy-bitsy flowers growing by the side of the road or wild roses as you said. I love flowers..all flowers. For me nature and all the beauti that it holds is ethereal and unmatched by human beauty.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting Jo that you wrote about two different varieties of roses - one cultured and offered in a "formal" setting and the other "wild" and growing with "abandon."
ReplyDeleteI read the first half of your post as a metaphor leading to the second half.
You are at crossroads here - a stable career versus creative passion.
I think Russell had some excellent thoughts. It certainly would be a way to move toward your dream and in a comfortable way.
Career changes are great.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't reach for your dreams you can't expect them to come true.
I love David Austin Roses and antiques! Hybrid T's however, no. They are leggy, diseased, gawky and weird.
ReplyDeleteI say go for it! Do the things you love.