Pearlescent Mofo Flower

My sister once told me that only serial killers and divorcées hang fake flowers on their bathroom walls. But there it was, this behemoth of an artificial ranunculus, a sprawling constellation of pearl-white petals that dominated the wall like some kind of floral supernova. Each petal - and there must have been hundreds - curved and layered with the precision of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting, if O'Keeffe had worked in synthetic materials and bathroom décor. The thing about a flower this size is that it becomes less of a decoration and more of a personal statement. It's unapologetically massive, with a presence that seems to say, "Yes, I'm fake, and yes, I'm fabulous." Its countless petals catch the light from my unflattering overhead bulb and scatter it around the room like some disco ball's elegant cousin. The keyhole mount on the back seems almost comically small for something so grand, like using a pushpin to hang a chandelier. Sometimes, when I'm brushing my teeth, I catch myself staring at its endless layers of petals, watching how they spiral outward in a mathematical dance that nature herself might envy. And I think that maybe serial killers and divorcées are onto something after all. At least they have the courage to go big in their bathroom décor choices, to let a single, enormous fake flower transform an ordinary bathroom into something approaching art.