After learning late Monday of the sudden loss of a young friend with enormous potential, yesterday seemed extraordinarily dark. The sunlight carried sadness and a heaviness hung in the breezes on what might have otherwise been a beautiful summer day; one in which I could celebrate the passage of another year.
Every year, this particular plant creates anticipation. It is the last of the perennials to bloom in summer and it will be another two months before the mums open. Last year I wondered whether I would need to give up on this hibiscus. Reduced to only one blossom, it died in the fall. Amazing what a little fertilizer can do.
Today the hibiscus bloomed! I am expecting as many as 35 blossoms from this little flower that could. It tells me to hug everyone I love a bit tighter, reminds me to tell the people who matter how much they mean to me, and to have hope that grief will not linger.
50: A Figment of my Imagination 