Beauty and inspiration can come in many things and take on many forms. All you have to do is open your eyes and look around you. This year's inspiration comes from my roses. They are an epic story of struggles, lose , and rebirth.
I bought this property four years ago. it was a fixer upper. 40 year old carpet, 100 year old wallpaper, and a yard that needed love. I remember quite well the first things that I had to do to the yard to get it looking better. they half buried a claw foot tub in front of my bay window. but they did nothing to maintain it, after all this was for many years a rental property. The next step was to remove all the sapling trees growing next to the house. SO I was digging and cutting out maples, walnuts, and elm trees from all sides of the house. But on the East side of my house there were also roses that needed some love as well. I also had two full grown maples of the east side of my property, those roses were not getting the sunlight they needed. SO the first year they never bloomed.
The next year I moved the roses away from the house , placing them by my garage, where they would get more light, but it wasn't going to be a permanent spot. Roses are delicate plants and they looked like they all died. SO I left them alone and worked on the many different projects that I had to do.
But the following year, they showed life and so I trimmed them up and decided to give them a permanent place to grow. I placed them a foot away from my driveway. I tilled the dirt a little deeper and took more time transplanting them. Some responded very well, but they all survived. They finally had a location where they can get all the sunlight they needed and not crowded in by other plants.
This summer they grew nicely, and I could see roses finally start to form. SO I went inside the garage and grabbed some string and short posts and staked the roses. with all the new growth they needed to be supported so that when the new growths stiffen up they are growing upwards, not on the ground. I was so excited over seeing a few rose buds, but loving the sight of half the roses having multiple buds on them. Today was a sweet day, when I went to get the lawnmower, I saw that the first groups of roses were blooming. A nice deep red with subtle beauty.
So how does this make a story of life? These roses faces strong odds of never flowering. But the power of life and desire lasted those rough years and now they can shine. We also face hard times, moment when we think there is no hope. We are left to fight for ourselves, but given a chance , we learn about ourselves, continue to fight and when the time is right, we shine our inner spirit for the whole world to see. It is going through the hard times that makes our journey even sweeter.
And like my journey repairing this house and yard, there were times I wanted to scream. But I took on the responsibility and I pushed on. I have those moments where I can be very proud of myself. And through this journey I have found inner peace and strength to become a better person. Now every year my spirit will shine every time I see those roses bloom.
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