Things Remembered - February 22, 2026

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When I was growing up, the end of winter wasn’t so much a season as a tactical operation led by my mother. Each year, she’d wake up one morning in late February and declare that winter had overstayed its welcome. The house would spring into action.

Windows were thrown open, closets were raided, and suddenly all five of us kids were being reassigned to new rooms. We’d come home from school to find our dressers in the hallway and a set of marching orders on the table. The annual McCann Room Migration had begun.

It felt like chaos, but it was really her way of getting us ready, physically and mentally, for a new season.

Mom was onto something: You can’t really welcome what’s next if you’re still living in the clutter of what came before. And that doesn’t just apply to living rooms and hallways. It applies to our heads too. If we want to be ready for spring, a little mental scrubbing can help.

The logic behind the ritual

Spring cleaning can feel like one of those habits we inherited from our parents, but the instinct is older than any of us. Long before anyone gave it a name, families treated the arrival of spring as an intentional clearing-out of whatever the dark months of winter left behind.

At first it was just for practical reasons. In colder places, winter meant shut windows and lots of smoke and soot from the fire. When the weather finally softened, you could open the house to let fresh air move through, beat the rugs, and wash the curtains.

Different cultures have different names for the same impulse. A colleague recently mentioned the German practice of Lüften, a.k.a. “house-burping,” which involves opening the windows for a few minutes, even when it’s freezing outside, just to cycle out what’s stuck and let the space breathe. Another friend told me she’s been reading A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Clean Mind, which treats cleaning as a form of spiritual discipline. The first step is as plain as it gets: Open the windows and invite the purifying breeze in.

That’s the thread that runs through all of it: Open the space and clear what’s stale.

Scrubbing away winter’s residue

We still need the ritual of spring cleaning because winter has a way of overstaying its welcome. The season leaves salt on the floorboards and grit in the garage. It can leave a residue on our minds as well.

By the time February rolls around, a lot of us feel tired and isolated. When it’s dark before dinner, the days start to feel like repeats. Our minds start to become mental junk drawers: a place where we’ve been tossing worries and frustrations just to get through the short days.

The good news is that the same instincts that help us refresh a home can help us reset our minds. Here are three ways to start:

Air it Out

Fresh air changes a room quickly. The same is true for the mind. Worries tend to grow in silence, especially when they’ve been sealed up all winter. So start with the simplest move: Open a window.

That can be both literal and emotional. For the latter, it can be as simple as calling a friend you haven’t talked to in a while and having a real conversation. Write down the thoughts that have been looping in your head. Say out loud what you’ve been carrying quietly.

You’re just letting some air circulate around your relationships.

Empty the junk drawer

Every house has a junk drawer, and every mind does too. It’s where we toss things we don’t know what to do with in the moment — an old grudge, guilt over something that never worked out, or frustration about what we can’t control.

This spring, pull those thoughts out the way you’d empty a cluttered drawer. Examine each one honestly. Ask whether it’s useful, whether it’s teaching you something, or whether it’s helping you build the life you want.

If not, it’s clutter. Let it go.

Rearrange the furniture

Sometimes the mind feels heavy because everything is the same. Winter routines can turn our days into grooves, and before long we’re living on autopilot.

So borrow a page from my mom’s playbook and introduce a small disruption. Drive a different route or take a walk at a different time. Read a book you’d never normally pick up. Or change one small habit on purpose.

It may feel minor, but your brain notices. It’s like coming home and finding your dresser in the hallway. Suddenly you’re awake and ready to move into a new season.

Markets move in cycles. Companies endure — or they don’t — based on the decisions leaders make when conditions are uncertain.

In this episode of Power & Impact, I sit down with Marc Cooper, CEO of Solomon Partners, to talk about what the current M&A environment is teaching us about durability. Beneath the headlines about slower deal flow and shifting valuations, there’s a more important story unfolding: private equity portfolios aging, capital waiting for clarity, and management teams deciding whether to hold, sell, or reinvest for the long term.

Marc shares what he’s seeing across the market — from renewed activity in larger transactions to the early “green shoots” in the middle market. We discuss the pressure facing funds that expanded during the zero-interest-rate years, the reality of price discovery, and why 2026 may bring a steady return of movement rather than a dramatic surge.

After five decades in business, I’ve learned that lasting firms are built on discipline, perspective, and the willingness to act when the moment calls for it — even when the answers aren’t perfectly clear.

50 Years In: My first springtime lesson

As 1-800-Flowers.com marks its 50th anniversary, I’ve found myself thinking less about milestones and more about moments — the small, human ones that explain why our story is still being written. In the spirit of the upcoming season, here’s a story about spring.

My first day in the flower business was April 1, 1976. I didn’t think much about the symbolism at the time, as I was focused on keeping the lights on and learning what I didn’t yet know. Spring made sure I learned quickly.

That season, an unexpected heat wave hit the Northeast. The temperature shot into the 90s (yes, you could cook Easter eggs on the pavement!). I had set out tulips, hyacinths, and lilies on the Manhattan sidewalk, proud of how full and colorful the display looked. It felt like the kind of scene that says, “This shop is ready.”

Within hours, the blooms went from perfect to past their prime.

It was a tough introduction to a business where timing is everything. Beauty is real, and so is its fragility. You don’t get to hold spring still. You have to meet it when it shows up, care for it while it’s here, and respect how quickly it can change, especially in New York!

17 million stems. One extraordinary season.

Over the course of this Valentine’s season, we delivered 17 million stems — including more than 10 million roses — helping people express love in every corner of the country.

Behind every bouquet was an incredible team effort: our BloomNet florists designing by hand, our distribution and technology teams working around the clock, and our customer service representatives caring for each order as if it were their own.

In the middle of it all, we received special recognition: CNN Underscored named 1-800-Flowers.com the best online flower delivery service of 2026. We’re grateful to their editors for the thoughtful review and proud that the care, craftsmanship, and commitment behind every bouquet were recognized on a national stage.

Most of all, we’re grateful to you — our customers. Thank you for trusting us with your most important messages. For 50 years, that trust has been our greatest honor.