A Walk Down Memory Lane : Part 1

With the store opening next week, I have found myself reflecting on the journey that brought us to this exciting day. The Davidson Flower Co. (DFC) began in early 2019 as this little idea that I had during my early years of staying home with our kiddos, Annie and Ben, who were just 3 and 1 at the time. I craved a creative outlet. Something new that my naturally curious brain could spend time researching and learning while still enjoying those fleeting days with babies at home. 

I spent many of those days taking the kids on stroller rides in Downtown Davidson along the sidewalks in front of the idyllic Main Street storefronts. It was there on one of those regular walks that I realized that our little town was really missing something: A Flower Shop. And from then on, the wheels in my head started turning until they were at full throttle.

I consider Mother's Day 2019 to be the real birthday of DFC. It was a heck of a time to "officially" open up for business. You know, it's just the holiday that's considered to be the Super Bowl for florists. Grrrrreat planning, Karen. There were TONS of hard lessons learned in that Mother's Day. Like really hard lessons. I was operating out of my dining room and I didn't have a flower cooler at the time. I brought the flowers in way too early and lets just say when it came time to deliver everyone's order, the flowers were at their peak of beauty....but they weren't going to last long. Oops, strike 1. I did all of my deliveries myself back then and my car was not even close to being equipped to shlepping flower orders all over town. Buckets were tipping over, bouquets were sliding, water was everywhere. Yikes, strike 2. I spent that first Mother's Day crying more than celebrating and that was definitely strike 3 for me. What on earth was I thinking? I couldn't do this. Those thoughts creeped into my head that whole first year in business. I failed more than I succeeded by far. But, my dining room was filled with flowers every week, and for some reason people kept supporting me. 

Fast forward to 2020; March of 2020 to be specific. I'm sitting on our living room floor fussing over figuring out a new way to package our wrapped bouquets to make them look better. Butcher paper is crumpled up everywhere as I tried and failed to make my bouquets look like the beautiful ones on Instagram. And then the news came across the TV screen: The NBA has suspended its season due to Covid-19. "Hmmm," I thought. Not even 10 minutes later, the emails started coming in. Brides began postponing their spring weddings with no idea of when they would reschedule. They were sad and scared, and I felt absolutely heartbroken for them. I reassured them that I was there for them and I wasn't going anywhere. We would figure it out together!

A few days later, we all found ourselves in lockdown and I found myself staring at a garden overflowing with a sea of flowers all purposefully planted for my spring weddings that were no longer. I cut a handful to take inside to enjoy for myself and I distinctly remember feeling this little nudge inside me. What on earth was I going to do with the hundreds of flowers blooming over the next few months? "Give them away." The little voice in my head got a lot louder. I couldn't keep this beauty just for me; it needed to be shared. Especially given the circumstances. And that's exactly what we did. 

Annie and I woke up early and worked together to cut handfuls of beautiful Anemones that following Saturday morning. We printed a homemade "FREE Flowers!" sign and taped it to a little table on our front porch. We placed the flowers in vases out on the porch, and posted a little blurb on our neighborhood Facebook group letting people know they were there and to help themselves. Well, boy did they! The response was incredible and heartwarming and the turnout only kept increasing as each Saturday passed. We met so many new neighbors from behind the glass windows of our front doors (thanks Covid lockdown, haha) throughout that whole spring season. The smiles, waves and homemade "Thank You" cards were the best ever.

Our family looked forward to each Saturday morning of that spring season; what a wonderful opportunity to spread just a little bit of sunshine during such a dark time. And we had no idea of the beautiful story that was about to unfold for our little family business when Mother's Day 2020 rolled around....to be continued, friends.