Red roses were her favorites, her name was also Rose.
 And every year her husband sent them, tied with pretty bows.
 The year he died, the roses were delivered to her door.
 The card said, "Be my Valentine", like all the years before.

Each year he sent her roses, and the note would always say,
 "I love you even more this year, than last year on this day.
 My love for you will always grow, with every passing year."
 She knew this was the last time that the roses would appear.

She thought, he ordered roses in advance before this day.
 Her loving husband did not know that he would pass away.
 He always liked to do things early, way before the time.
 Then, if he got too busy, everything would work out fine.

She trimmed the stems and placed them in a very special vase.
 Then sat the vase beside the portrait of his smiling face.
 She would sit for hours in her husband's favorite chair.
 While staring at his picture, and the roses sitting there.

A year went by, and it was hard to live without her mate.
 With loneliness and solitude, that had become her fate.
 Then, the very hour, as on Valentines before,
The doorbell rang, and there were roses, sitting by her door.

She brought the roses in, and then just looked at them in shock.
Then went to get the telephone, to call the florist shop.
The owner answered and she asked him if he would explain,
Why would someone do this to her, causing her such pain?

"I know your husband passed away more than a year ago,"
The owner said, "I knew you'd call, and you would want to know.
The flowers you received today were paid for in advance.
Your husband always planned ahead, he left nothing to chance.

"There is a standing order that I have on file down here,
And he has paid, well in advance, you'll get them every year.
There also is another thing that I think you should know,
He wrote a special little card ... he did this years ago.

"Then, should ever I find out that he's no longer here,
That's the card ... that should be sent to you the following year."
She thanked him and hung up the phone, her tears now flowing hard.
Her fingers shaking as she slowly reached to get the card.
Inside the card, she saw that he had written her a note.
Then, as she stared in total silence, this is what he wrote...

Sometimes in life, you find a special friend;
 Someone who changes your life just by being part of it.
 Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop;
 Someone who makes you believe that there really is good
in the world.
 Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door
just waiting for you to open it.

 This is Forever Friendship.

~ Author Unknown ~
 

The above poem represents something more than mere pretty words to
Grey and I. Grey's paternal grandfather would meet his wife each day
to walk home from work, and each day he gave her a rose. Family legend
has it that one evening after he had died, his wife came home with a new
rose.  She claimed that she had "just walked home with Papa", and that
he had given her another rose. The family thought she was imagining
things in her grief, that she had found the rose somewhere, or bought
it herself ... And yet, that last rose never wilted while she lived.

Snowglobe courtesy Birklea