Vinnie had a lover, a fantasy woman who was as beautiful as any woman he had ever seen. She made him fall in love with her, without doing a thing, accept to respond to his foolish ramblings of images and things that could never happen. A true fantasy romance. An internet related love. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds, her smile would lighten a room… her body was a work of perfection, God went out of his way when he created her. What was her name? It doesn't matter, she would know who I was talking about…. But Vinnie had other names for her, Goddess, Queen, Princess, Slave, and lover.

She seemed to love roses, as most women do, but she seemed to make a rose feel ashamed to be near her, her radiance made the rose look like an unwanted weed. But roses are beautiful. And Vinnie thought of his love affair, as if it were a rose bush. She was the rose.... And Vinnie.... the thorns.

Did you ever really watch a rose bush evolve through it's lifetime? Again, the story has similarities to a love affair. The beauty, the sadness, the beginnings, the ending…..

First, the budding of the flower………. The day they first made contact…….. The rose bud is considered the most beautiful stage of it's growth. The tight petals have stability and can fight off the elements better than any other stage. Love has it's strength in the beginnings too.

Then the flower matures, the petals spread out and open to the sunlight, the fragrance enhances the garden, the other flowers show envy of it's beauty. The love affair has developed too. The blossoming has developed into the trust and companionship that two people can share in a love affair. Another similarity.

The mature rose has stood the test of time, but , the end has to come sometime. You've seen it happen all of your life. Have you ever noticed it? The rose bush can be nurtured and feed. The fruit can be enjoyed. A lover of roses might sacrifice a flower by pruning it and discarding it, to make room for another blooming beauty. Or…. the bush could be neglected, the flower left to discolor and dry out, to hang from the stem and turn to the ugly dead thing that it is. I've seen those carcasses left on the bush over the entire winter, standing testimony of the beauty that once was, but is now gone forever. It hurts to be neglected too….

How does Vinnie want to end his love affair with his rose?. Does he want to cut her from the stem, and take her into his house, and his heart?. She wouldn't be in any danger from the elements. But that too, is only temporary. She'll wither and die just the same. Her beauty gone forever….. like the love he shared for the little time they had together.

There are choices to make when trying to save a rose from being lost forever. You can press it between the pages of a book…….. it will lose it's shape and color, and will fall apart when touched…….. You can have the flower dried in silica-gel, but again it will be fragile, dry and ugly after a few months, even without the slightest touch.

When Vinnie's Dad gave his mother a rose for their 25th anniversary. Mom had it waxed, and put into a globe of clear liquid. The rose was preserved completely. It's petals spread out like the full blown love they had together. Vinnie's dad died the next year, but the rose lives on, in the globe and in her heart. The fragrance is but a memory, but the beauty will always be there to remember and enjoy. The tears that will be shed, will be of fond thoughts remembered, not tears of pain.

Vinnie will put the rose he knew as a love object into a globe, on the mantle of his heart. He will always remember her as the light of his life, and the woman of his dreams. I wonder what She will do for her rose? ……. See? …….. The rose bush is very similar to a love affair…… they both can hurt just as much when they are not allowed fulfillment… or longevity..

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