Father's Day Flowers

I found this flower blooming near our front porch this morning.  For the first time in my life, I am in Minnesota for Father's Day, and I discovered  beautiful potential in a plant I obviously know nothing about.  We have never been here this late in June, and I had no idea that what looked like tall grass to me would bloom into this startling eye-catcher.  Throughout the last week, I could tell that the plant was preparing itself to flower, and I anticipated a subtle yellow flower.  I was pleasantly shocked at the vibrant color of a flower I have never been here to experience.

It is a gift of Father's Day for us. We can only share it with my husband via the internet, but it is a symbol of hope for me, and a reminder that only because of him, am I here to witness this. He is the Minnesotan, I am not...not yet anyway.  I still feel like a tourist here.  I drive from place to place with my GPS and I frequently navigate informational websites.  I learn something new about this place, and about my husband, with each passing day.

This flower has impressed more upon me than its vibrant display.  It represents for me all it is I strive for in life and in my marriage.  In the spot where this flower popped this morning, snow and ice sit for nearly five months.  The pile of snow was above my hip this year.   In the middle of winter, it is impossible to imagine that fragile beauty like this could exist.  Nothing is more hopeful than knowing that life can survive and eventually thrive after the harshest of conditions.

It is not the first time the kids and I have spent Father's Day without their father, but it is the first time we will not see him at all.  My husband has worked twelve-hour days EVERY Father's Day since I have known him.  Usually we track him down at the festival where he works, but we are allowed only fifteen minutes or so as we follow him from one place to another.  We have managed to stay optimistic about the fact that the beauty of our family togetherness is simply laying dormant.  Just like this flower, it will bloom again...even from ground that seems impossibly frozen.