A Thing of Beauty

This is an orange-red rose that my friend gave me about a dozen years ago. It always blooms right around my birthday.

I have always considered this rose a fulfillment of a promise my mother made me just before she died. She said that if there was an afterlife, she would send me something orange. It was our secret. The following year my friend gave me this rose for my birthday, and it bloomed out orange. It has grown a little darker in color over the years but it retains its orangy beginnings.