Petal Love: I Dreamed Up a World

I am 48, yet I feel that the most extraordinary things in my life are still ahead of me.

I am not an unhappy person — quite the opposite.

I can find joy in even the smallest things.

And still, it feels as though something keeps drawing me toward new wonders.

But wonders do not simply fall into our laps from one day to the next.

I spent thirty years working in healthcare:

as a nurse, an assistant, a home-care worker on the side, and a hospice nurse.

Through my work I met every kind of person.

I came close not only to the biological body but to the soul too.

Without that, the job would have been impossible.

Sometimes we laughed together.

Sometimes we cried.

My own soul would sink or soar with theirs and with the emotions of their relatives.

I never felt burnt out by the work itself.

What I always missed, however, was genuine recharging after the difficult days.

For years I have regularly attended self-awareness trainings because I have always wanted to understand both myself and the people around me.

I spent a great deal of time exploring the soul, emotional life, joy and pain.

I loved travelling.

That is where the idea for my bucket list began.

I started writing down the things I absolutely wanted to do or achieve during this lifetime.

But I did not only write and dream.

I tried to make the dreams happen.

That is how I reached places that became deeply important to me.

I collected wonderful experiences.

And the moment one goal came true, I was already looking forward to the next one.

Prague.

Rome.

Later, London.

And Australia remains on my list, where a friend who has lived there for eight years is still waiting for me to finally visit.

In my hometown, many people know me mainly because of my work.

But I am also known as the woman who does Nordic walking along the Berettyó embankment and takes photographs.

The woman who collects rubbish by the lake and in the cemetery simply because she wants to.

The woman who, at 46, swam across Lake Balaton for the first time in her life.

Lavender harvesting was on my list.

So was a tattoo.

And the list keeps growing.

We only live once.

I adore nature.

Beautiful landscapes.

Still-life-like moments.

And especially flowers.

For me, flowers are another word for love.

For decades I have collected wildflowers and various natural materials during my walks.

At first, I used them only to decorate my own home.

Then I began creating gifts for family and friends.

That was when I realised:

Creating makes me free.

I wanted to keep that feeling and allow it to grow.

While still working in healthcare, I completed a floristry course.

Many people saw that as another one of my eccentric hobbies.

And even I did not seriously imagine changing careers.

I was simply interested.

I wanted to learn.

Three years later, one of the flower shops in town came up for sale.

The moment I heard about it, it felt as though lightning had struck me.

I was afraid that at 47 I would not be able to handle such a challenge.

At the same time, I had never been so close to my biggest dream becoming real.

One moment I was full of hope and determination.

The next, resignation and helplessness.

I had a secure job that I loved and knew how to do.

I was afraid to give that up.

At the same time, I was often postponing bills.

Starting a business on top of everything else seemed like madness.

But my dream demanded to be realised.

My younger brother saw how determined I was.

Eventually he sat down with me, and we found a solution.

He would buy the shop as an investment.

I would rent it from him.

The decision was made.

Whatever happened, I was doing it.

I was going to become a florist.

I felt brave and reckless at the same time.

As though I were standing on the edge of a cliff preparing to jump into the great unknown.

Everything happened at lightning speed.

I barely had time to process it.

If I had had more time, perhaps I would have changed my mind.

I resigned from healthcare.

I studied how to run a shop.

Negotiated with suppliers.

Our family worked together on the renovation.

And almost overnight, I was standing inside my beautiful flower shop waiting for customers.

The same people I had once cared for in the clinic, in hospital or in their homes began arriving.

They congratulated me.

Encouraged me.

And through their genuine affection, I began feeling stronger and stronger too.

The miracle had happened.

Of course I was not alone.

My family stood beside me as a team.

My partner did most of the renovation work.

My younger son took responsibility for marketing the business.

My older son, whenever time allows, works in the shop and helps with the creative side.

Both of them constantly contribute ideas and advice.

My children and I have always shared a very strong bond.

Now that they have flown from the family nest, this new shared project gives us a wonderful reason to continue paying close attention to one another.

I may work alone physically in the shop.

But all of us are full of ideas, and despite every difficulty we keep trying to turn those ideas into reality.

I feel I can rely on my family in everything.

We offer local delivery within the town.

But we have also fulfilled the wishes of customers ordering from abroad many times.

They place their orders by phone or message, and we deliver the flowers to their loved ones.

Those moments are often deeply moving.

A mother suddenly realises that the flowers at her door are a surprise from her child living abroad.

It feels wonderful to share in that joy and become part of the surprise.

Sziromszerelem — Petal Love — became the name of the shop.

Every morning I enter it happily.

And I hope that anyone who walks through the door can feel that atmosphere too.

From the very beginning, however, I knew that not every dream is rose-coloured.

Difficulties and challenges do not appear only at the beginning.

They keep coming.

There are several flower shops in town.

For some of them, it has not been easy to accept that I am now part of the market too — even though I am “only” a nurse.

Before Christmas we launched a nationwide initiative called Lélekápolók — Soul Carers.

The idea was simple:

Nurses who spend Christmas Eve with their patients instead of their own families would receive a flower as a thank-you for their work.

The first year did not attract enormous attention.

But I am not giving up.

We will repeat it every year for as long as Sziromszerelem exists.

My family and I personally gave a white rose to every nurse on duty at my former workplace, the hospital in Mezőtúr.

My flower shop has not even been operating for a full year yet.

And I can already say with joy that I made the right decision.

I am glad I took the leap.

But I do not feel that my life is now complete.

Far from it.

My bucket list keeps growing.

Australia is still there.

So is another dream journey:

the Camino de Santiago.

And I would also like to open another Sziromszerelem shop in Budapest.

I want to remain close to healthcare too.

We will certainly continue the Lélekápolók initiative.

But we have other plans connected to healthcare as well.

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For now, I do not want to say too much.

Mainly because even for me, it will feel like a miracle if we genuinely manage to bring them to life.

I believe we can — and should — dream boldly.

Do I see a different woman in the mirror now?

YES.

The change may not have happened overnight.

But one year ago, a completely different woman was looking back at me.

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