A Flower Comes Out

A few years ago, actually even longer than that, I bought the korns for this day lilly at a spring flower sale my younger daughter, Martha, was helping to run at the Toledo Botanical Gardens in Toledo OH. It put it in my day lilly bed in an out-of-the way place.

The first few years it bloomed, it was pretty, and vastly different from all of my other lillies. But it was nothing spectacular. Then one wet summer, following a wet spring a couple of years ago, it really began to "shine." The next couple of years were dry and thus it was pretty but not spectacular. This Spring, however, has been wet, and the summer even wetter.

So I noticed the buds a few weeks ago in eager anticipation. Sure enough, last Thursday it bloomed and it was great. And then the rains came: 1 and 1/2 inch in less than 30 minutes. So when I went out later on that day, it was all drooped over.

I noticed this morning that the second bloom was out. I had to go to church and then elsewhere, however, and couldn't stop to record my spectacular beauty. And of course it rained today. Not as much as the other day, but still it rained fairly hard a couple of different times.

However, when I returned, it was still blooming, and so I took this shot.

And where was I today while it rained? Welcoming a West Virginia Army National Guard unit I used to serve with, now called the 821st Engineer CompanY, back from a very hot tour of duty in Iraq. It was hot not only in terms of temperature, but in terms of where they were, what their mission did and how they did it. Without going into details, several times they had to perform their engineer tasks while under attack. Further, several times they had to respond in kind to these attacks. There were a few wounded, and no doubt there will be post-traumatic syndrome for many, most of them were awarded the Combat Action Badge (what we used to call the Combat Infantryman's Badge) for their actions.
But today, they bloomed. They came home to friends and family. And their beauty shone dispite all the critics and naysayers in abundance in our country today. Like my Lilly, they persevered despite it all.
So guys, this one's for you.