When I received the bouquet with these words I assumed they went with the condolence cards that had come. They seemed kind and I smiled.
Today I received a package of vegan chocolate in the post, for me but again no name or note as to who had sent them.
That’s when the flowers started to seem a bit sinister. “Thinking of you” stopped seeming kind and started seeming suspect.
In a flurry of condolence messages and cards the anonymous flowers are one thing; ordered but forgotten to sign, easy enough to do online (I’ve done it myself). After a second, unsigned delivery, this time of chocolates, the flowers change their context. Chocolates and flowers, not from either of my girlfriends, nor any lover, that goes from condolence through romantic intent towards creepy.
Maybe I would have thought differently this time last year. Maybe. A little before last Christmas I acquired a stalker. The police were involved so I have a variety of reasons for not putting what happened online. However, anonymous gifts with no discernible context, no note or communication, do not strike me as cute or enjoyable but rather disquieting.
The chocolates were vegan, which I am not but a surprising number of people who have me as an acquaintance believe me to be. Perhaps that’s a coincidence, perhaps whoever sent it knows I like dark chocolate, they clearly don’t know I have a nut allergy though.
Anonymous gifts can be great with a note to explain context but without that and placed in the context of being only a few months after some guy acted on a bizarre obsession with me distinctly less so.