Pink Tea Roses

Sometimes, the most beautiful gifts are not readily apparent. The first spring in this house, I found a slip of a rose bush growing in the backyard. It had no blooms and was choked by weeds and tall grass. After careful weeding and some rose food, the little slip began to grow. I waited patiently for two years, nursing it diligently as the slip became a bush, but still no roses. Finally, on the third year, the bush began to bloom. It is now in its twenty-third year and has gone through several prunings, been cut in half by a mean neighbor on the other side of the fence and has survived severe freezes and droughts. Today, as I look out my bedroom window, I can see the roses opening again and I think of how lucky I was to have found it and how grateful I am for a gift that returns each year.