When you go to the store to get a birthday present for your son (a flowering tulip magnolia tree), and you wind up coming out with a little something for yourself as well! Hehe! Yay for springtime joys!
Ok, so here’s the story of the flowering tulip magnolia – back when my son lived in an apartment, there was a gorgeous flowering tulip magnolia just out his apartment window. Each Spring when it bloomed, he would tell us that whenever he had his own house, he wanted to get a tree just like that!
Fast forward … and last year my son actually had his own house. When springtime arrived, hubby and I thought ourselves to be very clever getting him a flowering tulip magnolia tree for his birthday.
There was a large selection of flowering tulip magnolias available at the garden nursery. A lot of them were already in bloom, but we decided to get one whose flowers hadn’t opened up yet … that way our son could enjoy its blooms longer.
Our son was thrilled!
But alas, much to all our surprise … when the blooms opened … they were not purple as expected. They were yellow.
It was a gorgeous tree, and the yellow blooms were indeed pretty! But we all couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. The tag on the tree had clearly indicated it was a purple-blooming tree. (spiritual lesson in this is that you don’t know what a person is truly like on the inside until they “bloom” and their actions reveal who they truly are!)
Hubby and I promised our son we would get him a purple one next year for his next birthday!
This year – spring rolled around … and true to our word, we got him a purple-flowering tulip magnolia! This time we made sure to get a tree whose blooms were already opened and booming!
Yay for purple flowering tulip magnolias! Yay for springtime joys!
The cheerful red rhodie (which came home with us as well from our birthday shopping spree!) hubby and I planted in the front flowerbed in front of our house! I am thrilled! It reminds me of our dear friends down in southern California.
Years ago, before our friends moved down to CA, they had the biggest, most beautiful, brilliant-red rhodies at their house here. I had never seen such gorgeous brilliant-red rhodies like theirs. I absolutely loved them!
Since then, the house where they used to live has been completely re-modeled by the next owners, and all the beautiful big rhodies were bulldozed. This cheerful little red rhodie in our front flowerbed makes me so happy because, in a way, it feels like I have a little piece of our friends here at my house.
Thank you God for the blessing of dear friends!
Thank you God for springtime joys!
