Bloomin’Espy!

Espy got her first flower and is well on her way to the second!

I walked into the office on Monday morning, and there Melanie, Nadia and Roshonna were by the desk talking.  When I walked in the room, they quickly pointed to Espy…

And.  My. Jaw. Dropped.

First…her bloom came quicker than I had expected.  We were expecting her to take several more days, and we were a long ways away from seeing her on Friday…or so it seemed.

But secondly, she is jaw-droppingly exquisite.  She’s intricate, detailed, multi-petaled, multi-shaded.  Her bloom is as big as a dinner plate with so much fanciness to her that she has become a show stopper. People stop conversation in mid-sentence once their eyes notice her. No. exaggeration. The pictures don’t begin to do her justice.

We all laughed at my reaction…partly because the others had a similar reaction when they saw her.

It was only somewhat later that we noticed something.  Espy doesn’t look how she is “supposed” to look:

We are not disappointed.

She is not a delicate pink.

But she is this vibrant pinky reddish coral in a multitude of shades that the picture above does not do her justice to.  She has much more variation…her stripes are more vivid than we were expecting.

She is not what we expected.

But it doesn’t matter.

We are finding her to be exactly what we want.  We love her.

She’s beautiful…and she didn’t fill our expectations at all…but her size,vibrancy, intricacy and color exceed any expectations that we couldn’t have even thought to imagine.

When we just appreciate her for her, then we’re thrilled.

If we compare her to the box, she’s a disappointment…but actually, the picture on the box…not nearly as incredible as Espy herself.

I’m so glad she’s a “disappointment” because all too often, those sorts of disappointments are surprises of beauty in disguise…we were surprised by hope…her name, Esperancé, means hope.  We were surprised with joy.

She reminded me to remember to not “look at the box” so much in life, but to find beauty in what “is”, rather than be disappointed by something not meeting my expectations.

Good to meet you in all your glory, Espy! Welcome!