You have to take time to smell the roses...

One thing I am learning the older I get is to stop and smell the roses. Literally, and figuratively. I spend so much of my life rushing from one moment to the next that I sometimes forget there is more to life than meeting deadlines or doing what needs to be done.

The other morning I took my camera with me to work to take pictures of my office, and to maybe go get some shots of the gardens near work. I love flowers. There is something about the perfection of a blossom that astounds me. I like roses, but lillies are my favorites. Anyway, when I got off the train and began walking the one block to work, my mind was already churning with the business of the day. I was walking along with my head down, looking at the sidewalk and thinking, when suddenly, there was the faintest hint of rose on the air. I looked up and saw that the rose gardens at the Delta Center were in full and explosive bloom. I looked back down to the sidewalk and resumed my thinking when it dawned on me that I go into work early so I can take a little time to myself before the bussle and hustle of the day... so I stopped.

To get up to the roses I had to climb up on a wall - which is no easy feat for me any more. Once there I was faced with row upon row of every color of rose. Where to start? Well, I pulled out my camera and began walking down the rows, pausing only to take a shot of one bud or another. Then I came to this one. Magenta. Intense. Fragrant. Alive. I stood there looking at it for a long time before I brought the camera to my eye and captured it forever. As I look down inside this rose and see the yet unfoled petals, I see even more potential for beauty and fragrance. I stood there for a long time wondering if my days of blooming were over yet, and if there was any more room in my life for growth, expansion, beauty, and fragrance? I pulled a petal off this rose and finally resumed my walk back to work, gently rubbing the petal in my fingers and occasionally smelling the sweet and pungent aroma. I didn't realize it until I got to work and set my bag down, but I hadn't thought of one thing pertaining to work or the stresses of life since I walked away from this rose. Instead, my mind was captivated by the future, and what I had left to give the world.

This is me... take it or leave it.