A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation

The end of February is very near. This morning I sit at the dining room table, a beautiful pink carnation still in full bloom from my Valentines day bouquet hangs over my computer screen. It reminds me there is always time to bloom, in the dead of winter, just when you are bracing yourself for another snowstorm, another deep freeze. Typically with the end of February we are starting to see the hope of spring, the baseball players have arrived in their respective spring training cities. The thermometer inches up a few more degrees daily. And if you are lucky you might get a garden seed catalog by now.
But not this year.
This has been a cold snowy winter, the snowiest on record in the state of Minnesota. Embrace winter they say, do all the winter things, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, mall walking, all very popular, once or twice in the winter. This year seems especially long.
Yet this pink carnation continues to bloom, it almost inserts itself into my morning view to remind me that there is beauty everywhere. Reminding me that even when there seems to be no hope there is a chance to bloom. A chance to grow and hang onto beauty.
This pink beauty reminds me to look for the good in all things, even when it doesn’t seem it is anywhere near. Sometimes it is right in front of you.
I am grateful for flowers in the winter, phone calls from grand kids
and weeks when there are no night meetings to take me away from home. Sometimes it's the little things that bring us back to purpose and intention. It is what makes our days bright.

As I am writing this the song a pink carnation pops into my head. A song we heard over and over as children. It was not a happy song, one of being alone in romance, but Marty Robbins sings it in perfect tune. I will use that as my joy today, not for the lyrics (they are quite sad) but as a touchstone of a happy childhood; a song, a flower and focus on living a life with purpose and meaning.
I wish for you kindness and joy when it feels like there isn’t much of that around. I wish you a white sport coat and a pink carnation; a feeling of joy today.