The strict border enforcement brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic reminds me of a time when I got into trouble for not paying attention to the rules of customs and border control closely enough. In these worrisome times, it is also a fun, sweet story, of a lesson to pay attention to border and customs rules.
During my dozen or so trips to Canada, I had been stopped and pulled aside a couple of times at the border, for rather unexpected reasons. Once it was when our family happened to be traveling separately on two flights, and on entering Canada with my son, they asked for a permission slip from my husband. I found out there had been multiple occurrences of kidnapping and absconding to Canada, so they had to be sure. The second time was due to an expired Canadian visa. But this third time, I did not expect to be pulled aside for a beautiful, albeit a little wilted, due to a week of travel, bouquet of red roses!
That day, I checked into my flight back to the US and passed in my custom declaration with all agriculture questions marked “No”. Then I boldly put my carry-on luggage on the security belt. On the other side, throwing my carry-on over my shoulder and cradling my bouquet over my arm, I was about to cross US customs and immigration at Vancouver airport, when the officer pulled me aside to a separate room. “Do you have any agricultural items to declare?”. I said No. Then he took the bouquet from my hands, turned it upside down and shook it hard a few times. A few loose, dried leaves fell. He shook it harder. Some more leaves and petals. It pained me to see my cherished bouquet being handled so harshly. The officer turned to me. “You are supposed to declare every cut plant or flowers you carry. I am going to let you go this time as I didn’t find any bugs or pests on the flowers. I would have fined you $500 if I had found even a single worm.” Just the talk of the $500 shook me harder than he had shaken my flowers. I was glad he let me off the hook, and with a lesson learned I boarded the flight to bring my beloved flowers back home.
The story of my pretty traveling companions began on Valentine’s day. I am generally not a huge romantic, and regardless how cliched red roses are, I do believe they are God’s gift to humans. After drilling this into my rather practical husband’s head, I have been receiving beautiful red roses occasionally. That year we were traveling right after Valentine’s day. It was a trip spanning the west coast for about a week. And given that the life of these beauties is a week to 10 days, I was not willing to leave them behind.
I carried them from airport to airport, transported them in uber and transit trains, brought them to hotel rooms and some restaurants enroute. The response and reaction I got from fellow humans, on seeing the blooms in my arms, was a little more than if I were carrying a puppy or a baby! I figured people weren’t weirded out as it was the day after Valentine's day; though I was pleasantly surprised to see the joy on people’s faces. I had decided to carry the flowers on an impulse and briefly had second thoughts. But every time I encountered a smile or a nod from another fellow passenger, I would hug my favorites closer and promised to care for them the best I could. I found a vase in every hotel room, and parked them in a bed of water and nutrients, so they could get their much needed rest, to be refreshed for travel to the next destination.
We drove across the border to Canada. Oblivious of the agriculture rule, I missed declaring the flowers. The officer gave us the benefit of the doubt and the flowers made their way to Canada. I enjoyed and nurtured them for a couple more days. They were still blossoming a little, on that near fateful day when they almost cost me $500. The edges had dried a bit, giving a darker tint and a more distinguished look.
Back in the US, we flew down south for a road trip from the Bay Area to LA. My loyal companions kept up with the journey. On our final leg of the trip back home, I covered and pressed them into our checked in luggage. As long as possible, I wanted to preserve and share the memory of the joy and sweetness these silent, living things gave me and the smiles they brought to so many people along the way! In this world full of worry and stress of everyday life, the roses were the sweet spot.
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