Flower

This is something I posted on a garden blog I was involved with for the briefest of moments. I found it again today and was struck by how different my life was only a couple of years ago.

This morning I passed another marker on the long road to being a gardener, another step on the journey, another brick in the wall, another one bites the dust. Choose whichever cliche you prefer; they all work. Yes, I finally had a flower plucked from my front yard. I didn't notice at first, even though my garden is tiny and mostly perennials, which, lovely as they are, don't really clamor for attention with big, showy blooms. I was getting something from my car and on my way back in I noticed the spider flower had sure faded fast. I hadn't expected it to... hey wait a minute, it's not dead at all, it's completely gone, cut off from the stem in a break so clean as to suggest it wasn't simply nature having its way. I won't lie and tell you there was no little twinge of disappointment or anger when I saw the stem come to an abrupt end halfway up to its former height. But then I decided to take a more zen approach and go with the assumption my little spider flower is making someone very happy in its new home. And I can't deny it... I'm kind of flattered that someone would want anything I grew! Of course, I don't want this to become a regular occurance, but if I lose a blossom now and then to the world at large, hey, I can live with that.