Avery's Greenhouse

[averysgreenhouse]

[averysgreenhouse]

Week 2: The First Customer

It’s been several days since the opening of the greenhouse – for other people, I mean. Avery and I have been here for a long time actually, building it, taking care of the plants, hiding from the merciless world outside. And so far, I’ve regretted nothing. You cannot wish for better company than I’ve had, and yes, I am talking about Avery and the plants Avery’s been taking care of. It’s Avery’s greenhouse after all, not mine, not really. But in Avery’s eyes, it didn’t really matter and if could, Avery would share the greenhouse, the plants and the love with the whole world.

Today, the first person came to the greenhouse. It’s not like I want to assume their gender, but all the clues given (including long brown braided hair, decent make-up and a nice yellow skirt) suggested this was a young lady in her early twenties. She entered the greenhouse with a slightly worried look on her face and looked around the whole place, clearly looking for something specific. Then she landed her eyes on Avery, who was water-spraying some plants in a corner and didn’t even notice her, and then she turned to me. I was preparing coffee for Avery and myself at that moment. I smiled at her.

“Hi. Welcome to the greenhouse. It’s nice to have you here.” I started the conversation and probably took the young lady by surprise as it took her some seconds until she spoke.

“I- Thanks.” She said in very impatient tone, but there was nothing rude about it. She was still looking worried. She glanced around the greenhouse once again and turned back to me, with even more worried expression on her face. “I saw that “OPEN” sign on the door, but this isn’t a florist’s shop, is it.”

It wasn’t a question. She didn’t use a question mark.

“No, we don’t sell anything.” I assured her, understanding her confusion. There are not many buildings out there with an “OPEN” sign on the door that are not shops. Walking into a door with a sign that say “OPEN” and not be able to buy goods or services is probably not what people would expect or want. Some of them would turn around and walk out without any hesitation, as they would consider it an absolute waste of time. But this girl wasn’t like that. She was curious.

“Then, what is this place? A coffeeshop?” She asked and pointed at the coffee I was preparing. I was still smiling, enjoying the conversation and the fact that she wasn’t even mad about the greenhouse not being a shop.

“A greenhouse.” I answered calmly and filled three cups with the coffee, which was now finished. I handed her one of the cups. She looked like someone who could appreciate a good cup of coffee. She didn’t say anything, stared at me in surprise and took the cup. I continued: “You said you thought this was a florist’s shop, didn’t you? Were you looking for any specific flowers or plants?”

“Oh, yes…” she blinked quickly as if she just realized she was still there. “My mum has a birthday party tonight and I was supposed to order a bouquet. But when I arrived at the shop this morning, they apologized and said they accidentally lost the order. They could prepare it for tomorrow though. But that’s too late for me…” she sighed. So that’s what’s been worrying her. This one small complication that could ruin her mother’s special day. She took a sip of the coffee a looked at it. “That’s a good coffee…” she stated.

“Thank you” I smiled as I was truly happy to hear that. It’s always nice when someone thinks your coffee is good.  

By this time, Avery was fully aware of the girl and they must have overheard us, as they approached us with a very nicely potted and star-shaped succulent. They smiled at the girl in a way that made her blush a little.

“I know it’s not a bouquet, but this very handsome succulent could make your mum happy for many, many years. I won’t sell it, but I will give it to you.” Avery said, their voice calm and eyes so kind I would surprise me again and again every time I would look at them. This took the girl complete off guard and for a moment, she was speechless. I don’t know if it was the offer or the fact that it was Avery who made that offer that cause her surprise, but for the first time since she set foot into this greenhouse, she smiled, genuinely and sincerely, and I loved that smile. And Avery, too, loved that smile.

Still smiling, the girl shook her head.

“Thank you very much. But I won’t take it. Instead, I will go look for the bouquet somewhere else. I know I panicked before, but I still have the whole day ahead.” She said and took another sip of the coffee. She wasn’t worried anymore. She was calm.

We were sitting and chatting for another hour, maybe hour and half, all three of us. The young lady, who introduced herself as Aneta, Avery, kind and charming as always, and me. Aneta then left, but not before she’d promised she would come visit us again someday. Right after that, Avery happily grinned at me.

“See? I told you someone would come.” They said, finishing their cup of coffee and looking very satisfied.

“Yes. Yes, you did.” I laughed. I was satisfied too. Maybe we couldn’t help Aneta with her problem, but hopefully we made her day just a little bit better and that’s more than enough for us. Sometimes, you just need to stop and talk. And if you don’t need to talk, then stop and listen to those who need to talk. I feel like I had to share this day with you not only because Aneta was the first person who came to Avery’s greenhouse, but also because I was able witness the power of cup of coffee and small and friendly talk.

Dear friends, thank you for reading this.

With lots of love,

me.

[averysgreenhouse]

Week 1: The Opening

Lately, I’ve been thinking. About life, about the universe, about myself… basically about everything and about nothing. What is life, anyway? You cannot go through it just *existing* and doing nothing for the society, although you own completely nothing to it. And what even *is* society, how come you can rarely accomplish anything as an individual, but the society, which you are a part of, shapes the way the world works? I’d like to know that. I’d like to see how that works. Put it under the microscope lenses and analyse every bit of it. And yet, I don’t. I’m just as full of contradictions as this world and an actual existence in it is.

Well, that was deep, wasn’t it? Barely a meaningful opening to this blog post, which will be about everything else but the meaning of life, society and existence in general. But it’s cool to think about those things sometimes, am I right?

Today, we opened the greenhouse for public for the first day. A perfect time for such an action, if you ask me. The beginning of spring should always be a beginning of something new and exciting, something you can dedicate all your energy and free time to. Some people get new hobbies, some get new haircuts, some get a dog and some of them open their greenhouse to public. I don’t remember whose idea it was anymore, if mine or Avery’s, but I am truly glad we agreed on it.

Now let me tell you something about this greenhouse: it’s nothing special, really. I tried to explain that to all the people who’d been so excited about it, but they just wouldn’t listen. It is just a greenhouse and it’s no different from the other greenhouses. Except it’s open to public now. You can come in and talk to us about whatever you want. But that’s it. Really. Trust me. It’s a regular greenhouse and you are welcome to come in and relax a little bit.

Now that I almost officially invited you to our greenhouse, please pay attention to these little rules you’ll have to observe once you enter:

The greenhouse is for everyone. Plants, people, animals and things.

Don’t judge anyone. We all have stories you don’t know about. Even you have stories you don’t know about. Respect others and you will be respected back.

You can talk about whatever you want in the greenhouse, as long as you don’t spread any hate. Try to be better person and help the greenhouse remain a peaceful place.

Don’t touch Avery. Feel free to talk to Avery, Avery is very friendly. But don’t touch Avery.

If you are asked to leave the greenhouse, just leave and think about what you did or said. Please note that you won’t be asked to leave for no reason, so if you are, you probably did something wrong. Maybe you touched Avery. Maybe you’ve been a jerk. I don’t know, just leave.

Do. Not. Harm. The. Plants. You can touch them and talk to them though.

That is all I can think of so far. I read these rules to Avery and Avery agrees, so let’s settle on it for a moment. Avery is very excited about the greenhouse opening and so am I, partly excited just because Avery is excited (does this make any sense?) but I will talk about Avery and me being excited in the next post as we have still a lot of work that needs to be done here in the greenhouse. Thank you for reading this and please, feel free to visit the greenhouse anytime.

P.S. If you read this accidentally and without any context and got confused, don’t worry. It’s okay to be confused.

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