The gardenia has a blossom

I've been watching and watching all week, in hopes that one of the gardenias at my front door would be would be filled with blossoms.  But alas.  No blossoms.

Until this morning - one blossom - small, as it were, but a blossom.

And why was it so important to me that there be blossoms?

Because on May 31, 2000 as I left Jacksonville to go to Tampa for the birth of my first grandchild, a gardenia bush that was along my walkway was filled with blossoms and I have always associated them with the night that Abigail Jane was born.

That was 13 years ago. 

My greatest excitement that night was not that I was about to become a grandmother.  It was all about the fact that my daughter, Renee, who has loved babies ALL her life was about to have one of her own.

Fortunately for me (though probably not for Renee), that baby was slow to come (kind of like those gardenias that I've been watching). My Jacksonville children and I made it to Tampa in time for the delivery.

I'll never forget her words "Look what I've done, mom."

I was so happy that Renee was a mother.  It was slow to dawn on me that I was now a grandmother.

In fact, it took much longer.  Longer even than the time that I've been watching for those gardenias to bloom.

However, once Abbie spent a morning with me about eight months later, it all made sense.  The two of us became pals.  Since that time, we have stayed pals.  We have shared the adventure of getting lost (when her little sister, Allie, was born three years later); we have shared secrets (when I used to sleep in her room and she suggested I should move to Tampa - including the idea that she it all figured out as to where I could work and live) and we share a great love for her mother.

Of course, Abbie is special because she is my first grandchild, but I always tell her she just opened the door to what for me has been the opportunity of a life time.   By now, I am one of the silly old grandmothers with a purse fill of photographs and ALWAYS a new story about one of my seven.

In our birthday visit (via cell phone) earlier today, she told me that she got make up, her first pair of heels and will soon have her ears pierced and that although she thinks boys are "ugly", she did enjoy her first boy / girl party not too long ago.

Oh help.

Okay Abbie.  Here's where the gardenia's going to come in.  When I was a teenager, I heard a missionary talk about how our lives are like a gardenia.  Did you know that one touch of a gardenia and your finger leaves a spot on the pretty flower?  I never really liked that story to be honest but I think it's a good reminder that we should always be aware that we want our lives to count for God and that we should be careful not to do anything that is going to mar our beauty.

Abbie also told me that when she signs her name - she puts a reference to three verses of Scripture that she feels are important.  I think if she always has these verses as a part of her life, she will stay just as beautiful as she is becoming.

"Rejoice always, pray all the time; be thankful for everything that comes into your life"  I Thessalonians 5:16-18 paraphrased by her grandma.

Welcome to the world of being a teenager, my little Abbra Caddabra - and blessings on you (and your mom and dad!)