A Rose Remembered...

This is a rose that has been gone for three years now...I took the photo at a little park in Dunlap, TN, about an hour from my home. There had been a soft spring shower, and each petal was still trembling with the rain's kiss.

I was there to see a man, a man I had pined for, yearned for, loved with all my heart since I was a little girl. I had known him all my life--he was there the day I was born. From the time I was three, people would ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I would say I wanted to marry him and be a teacher.

Life doesn't always work the way we planned as kids, as we all know. If it did, we'd be a world full of cowboys, ballerinas, astronauts, movie stars, and rock stars. I took a path chosen by parents and guidance counselors after high school, and pursued a degree in accounting. Halfway through I flunked out, bored out of my mind and depressed beyond measure. I worked secretarial jobs for almost 15 years until my chance came to go back to college to be what I should have been in the first place--a teacher. Now I go to work every day with a smile on my face and heart full of love. No drug, no amount of money, nothing could give me the same high that comes from teaching these kids. It may have taken until age 35, but I became that teacher.

As for marrying him, that path led to what I first thought was a dead-end. I dated a bit during the time I waited for him to "see the light," to see how much I loved him and how good I would be for him, and just when I thought he had finally changed, he broke my heart beyond forgiveness. I didn't think I would get over it.

Turns out, I should thank him. It seems that the dead-end was really just a fork in the road; he forced me to take the other direction, the other path. On that other path I found what turned out to be the most wonderful man in the world. If my life-long flame had continued his "come here, go away" ways, I would never have allowed myself to open my heart to the man I'm going to marry someday...

So here's to a rose that reminds me of many things--the beauty you can still find in this world, the dreams that can come true, and the dreams that don't come true, but lead you to even better ones.