"Mommy, whoa-ses..." Nash said to me with imploring eyes.

"You want to go cut the roses?" I asked.

"Uh-heh."

"Ok, let's go cut the roses."

I have been teaching my toddler how to prune back the rose bushes almost every night. We go outside into the front yard with the clippers and the bucket and stand in the warm fading sunlight and trim back three beautiful rose bushes that frame my front window. He carries the bucket. I clip the dead roses and we talk about cutting out the ones that have died to make more room for the ones that are budding. Meanwhile he plays on the stump nearby, runs in the grass, and helps me weed.

I had just finished cutting out the deadwood and I stood back and looked at the roses that remained. I wondered why I don't bring more of the GOOD ones inside. Perhaps because I know they will wilt very soon after. But they wilt pretty fast on the bush as well....I began to realize. I guess I just get out there and "get the job done" on auto-pilot. It would be trite to say I don't "take the time to smell the roses," because I AM out there enjoying the evening sun and experience with my son. But, what I'm NOT doing--that I WANT to start doing more of--is ENJOYING the fruits of my work. I want to bring the GOOD ones inside.

Are there other areas of my life that I am doing this to myself? Where I am depriving myself of the beauty in life because I'm moving to fast?

The night I realized all this, there weren't very many good blooms left. So I brought Nash over to the hydrangea bushes and asked him which ones he liked best. He pointed them out and I cut them. We loaded them in our metal bucket, brought them inside and arranged them in vases. Every time I look at them (ironically) I am thinking of my "whoa-ses" and how glad I am that I'm bringing the outdoors indoors and enjoying the blooms life has to offer, no matter how fleeting.

May you bring some blooms into your life today!

~Vicki