Confessions of a Flower Stealer

I have a confession I need to make. It's been weighing heavily on me for many years. They say confession is good for the soul so here goes: I stole something one time. Gasp! I know! So terrible! I'm a thief! There! I said it. But I couldn't help myself! I HAD to have it. You probably would have done the same thing. Allow me to explain...

I was blessed enough to get to go to France one time and I was BEYOND happy about it. I am a true Francophile. I love everything French. I was in absolute bliss from the moment we landed until the moment we left. To make my delirious happiness even bigger, we went to see Monet's house. My entire life, his paintings have been my all-time favorite. To stand on the bridge over the water lillies, a scene from his paintings and to stand IN his house where he painted, was, for me, beyond belief.  I actually cried. Sheesh.

While strolling joyfully through Monet's luxurious garden, I noticed a bunch of pretty yellow-flowered plants, some of which had dead flowers on them. And those of us who garden know exactly what that means! SEEDS!!

 Well now.

I casually looked around and whistling, bent down slowly and deadheaded that little plant. I surreptitiously stuck it in my pocket and then waited for alarms to go off or for French-looking gendarmes to rush me in a tackle. 

Huh. Didn't happen! Did I truly just steal something? I didn't. I did!  Did I get away with it? I did! Phew! Bad girl! But I HAVE SEEDS FROM MONET'S GARDEN IN MY POCKET!! OMGOSH!!! The children's book I read to my boys when they were little, called "What If Everybody Did?" popped into my mind and I swatted it away.

While going home through the airport I was SURE I was going to get stopped and thrown in prison for breaking how many agricultural laws? 

 Attempting to look innocent with a blushing red, sweating face, I was horrified to see the drug-sniffing dog walk by and STOP right by me! He then shoved his head all the way down into my bag and I almost fainted. I couldn't breathe. 

The police guy unloaded my bag and pulled out the bunch of lavender I had in there and seemed to be satisfied that was what his dog was sniffing. Phewwwww. I was so relieved and I tried to smile at him but it just looked like I had a bad case of diarrhea. You see, I've never stolen anything before. I've never broken the law! I honestly don't know how they do it. That was utterly exhausting. Gee whiz. That was definitely the end of my criminal career. 

I carried that beautiful little bunch of seeds home, planted them in my garden and voila! A yellow flower popped up after a while. I had an actual plant that came from Monet's garden in MY garden! Amazing! Made me SO happy! 

Even though I could never handle being a Career Criminal, that one time was so worth it. I'd totally do it again. ;)