By Rachael O’connor
A massive Bill Murray fan had a dream come true when he caught a rose from his favorite performer, only for the dream to instantly be snatched from his hands.Dave Gray, from Coventry in the U.K., recently took a trip to Birmingham to see actor and comedian Murray perform a show, which he described to Newsweek as “a mix of music, poetry and comedy, with some touching moments in between.”Gray said he thoroughly enjoyed the show, but a highlight came near the end, when the actor was handed a large bouquet鈥攁nd began tossing roses to the crowd. Newsweek has contacted Murray’s team via email outside of regular hours for comment on this story.Noting his “great aim,” as Murray was able to throw roses to fans up in the balconies, Gray steeled himself as the star got close to him, and managed to catch his eye and gesture for a rose.”He nodded and obliged by tossing the rose into the air above the people in between us, arcing beautifully toward me; another perfect throw,” Gray said.And he caught it, describing it as a “triumphant moment”鈥攏ot least because he was always picked last for sports at school as he had always dropped the ball.Gray said: “But not only had I caught something, anything, I’d caught something I actually wanted; a memento from my favorite actor.”Gray was already thinking about how he could keep the rose forever, perhaps by encasing it in resin, when disaster struck: a man in the seat in front of him “reached around and snatched at the rose,” and “yanked the head clean off.””Stunned and dismayed,” Gray watched the man examine the petals, while he was left only with the stem鈥攁nd while Gray shouted, “Who got the best part?” the man who stole the flower head “wouldn’t make eye contact.”Gray held on to what he called his “sentimental twig,” and didn’t see the man again, telling Newsweek that it was a “shame,” because “we perhaps could have worked out a shared custody deal where we each got the whole rose on say, alternating weekdays and every other weekend.”Other audience members, however, helped him see the funny side, and he later shared the story, along with a photograph of his sad, flowerless rose, to Reddit’s u/mildlyinfurating sub.Posting under the username u/JoeChump, he wrote: “Bill Murray threw me a rose at his gig but then a guy nearby snatched the flower off it. Now I have a sentimental twig.”And Reddit users responded in a big way, awarding the post more than 65,000 upvotes, as one commenter assured Gray: “Rose petals wither and die, but a stem can last forever.”Another suggested Gray “plant the stem cutting,” as the rose may “root, and you can keep the plant.”One commenter posted that they thought Murray would “appreciate” the story, and another wrote that they were at the same show, and were “unlucky as the couple sitting next to us caught one of the roses. We’d never dream of doing this to them.”Gray called the reaction to his post “equal parts bewildering and funny,” and went on to consider ways to preserve the rose stem鈥攊ncluding by attempting to grow a rose bush, despite his admission that he is “disastrous at gardening.”Gray landed on the idea of making art with it, including a print that “perhaps I can sell to help make money for a good cause, such as the victims of garden theft, or maybe something even more worthwhile.””Above all, and in the spirit of the evening with Bill we experienced, what I learned is that when life gives you lemons鈥攐r roses鈥攎ake friends, art, stories, literature, music, poetry, and have a laugh, and a whiskey with lemonade, while doing it,” Gray said.”And, with that in mind, I wish my rosy competitor no ill will at all, and thank him for the memories. Life’s too short to be a thorn in my side, to cry over spilled milk, or get hung up on broken flowers.”Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some extra details, and they could appear on our website.