TRUE. today

I have learned to live with disappointments and the image of the bottom of the pit brought my The Santa Maria Still Sails (1990) to mind. When I graduated from university (1983), my MA thesis had been on the Canadian writer Matt Cohen. A First Reconnaissance I had called it, knowing there would be more to come, as I was caught by the magic of Cohen's voice, language and stories. I started teaching in The Hague and besides developing all sorts of teaching material I continued digging for Cohen's soul in his diverse writings. A year later my thesis won me a grant to go to Toronto for a year to do research for a dissertation, which I worked on in my spare time in the following years. It was defended and published when I had already entered the rose business.

"John, in your PhD thesis you have researched the old-new-old spiral in the works of Matt Cohen. But what about this pattern in your own life? You started in the academe of teaching, then ventured into the roses. When will you come back?", my promotor, professor August J. Fry, asked in his speech. I'm back, yes, but not in the same spot as before. Indeed, a spiral.

In their search for their true selves, Matt Cohen's protagonists are on an existentialist quest in which they have to hit the bottom of their pit. Then, by tapping a deep ritual, such as wailing for some of his Jewish characters, they come to terms with their ego and climb up again.

I held my grandfather's gold pocket watch, the only thing he possessed before his marriage. I had started wearing it a few months earlier and by itself it had started running again. My grandfather had never given up. Son of an alcoholic father he had to start working at 13, managed to start his own flower nursery, married the love of his life, lost his first and third sons, overcame terminal cancer, lived off charity during that time, lost more children, his wife and his sight, but never looked back, always discovering new talents. My hero.

What was/is the problem with the brand? Nothing. The rose is fantastic, name and packaging very stylish, the consumers that have had it, come back for more. The bottleneck is getting to the consumer. I had focused on the top florists, now in trouble. In all the discussions on control in the flower supply chain, I have always said that the power is shared by the owner of the variety and the retailer. Controlling the first, should I now also work directly with the consumer? Internet. The success of e.g. Bol.com in Holland. I could take over the risk of the florists and let them carry out the logistiscs. But getting into the Google 'flowers New York'-top 5 would cost me some $ 5,000 per week. For 500 flowers that does not make any sense.

The watch ticked on, softly, beautifully.

1-800-flowers.com. When I started my quest, I had spent a few weeks in and around New York, talking to all possible parties involved in the flower industry. Bob Janmaat, purchasing director with 1-800-flowers, had been one of them. Despite the negative stories I had heard in from the producers in Latin America, I was impressed with their operation. Bob had taken his time to show me the ins and outs and was very interested in getting a high-end addition to their product lines. Would he still be there? Would they still be interested?

When I reached Bob's voice mail, my first question was answered and the second within an hour after sending my announced email. Two hours and three emails to Excellence later, there were two boxes of TRUE. roses on their way through the 1-800-flowers' logistic system, on their way to vaselife testing. Confident, I decided not to cancel the trip I had booked to see the florists and arrange storage of the TRUE. materials.

A new chapter.