roses v. snapdragons

I have a bouquet of flowers, mostly snapdragons, next to my bed. I wanted my variegated snapdragons to be one of the first things I see upon awakening.  I am surprised by how the snapdragons have expanded in the two days since I bought them. As if by magic, the whole bouquet seems fuller, bigger, richer.

I left in the daisy and zinnia flowers. The pink and yellow sedum. The snapdragons overpower them.

I am wondering why roses became such a popular flower, why roses are the focus of Valentine's Day. For my money, and my enjoyment, many flowers give richer pleasure than roses.

On the other hand, I've had some wonderful roses experience. When my niece was born, I sent my sister a dozen pink roses. She had her baby with no partner and, I reasoned, no one else was going to send her flowers. That's something men do.

I called a florist near the hospital she had the baby in. The florist discouraged me from sending flowers to the hospital.  She didn't have pink roses and had to wait for some. She said my sister was likely to be discharged before pink roses could arive. She pressured me to pick another color. They had to be pink for a girl. I told the florist my sister had had a c-section and would be in the hospital several more days.

It worked out. The special-order pink roses arrived, still closed. They opened up spectacularly. My sister actually took several close up shots of the amazing pink roses.  I have never had roses open up as those roses did.  They seemed like an omen, that my niece was going to be a very special person. And she is.

Back to my snaps. It is as if the snapdragons have continued to grow. They have opened up a lot since I bought them. The bouquet appears almost twice as large as they did yesterday.

I like flowers.  I miss having a garden.  My life is rich in many ways. Plenty of people don't have a patch of land to grow flowers and vegetables.  My life is rich. I should stop longing for what I do not have and love what I have.

I love my snapdragons.