Jimmie moved his hibiscus plant into his garage this weekend, to keep it warm.  “I want you to see something,” he said.  He brought me into his garage, excited, and showed me four new blooms that opened overnight.

“As if to say thank you for bringing me out of the cold,” he said.  The new blooms were deep red, more intense than the ones that came before.  (see The Hibiscus Story)

I am starting to love this man, this handsome guitar strumming Christian cowboy.  He has a good heart.  It looks as though our paths will diverge at some point in the near future.  We are so different, although for some reason, that never seems to matter.  He is at once unfamiliar and cozy, a strange and delightfully disconcerting combination.  I am getting to know him the way one would observe with tender fascination a rare tropical bird singing in the canopy.

He warms me every time I see him.  And every time I see him, my heart opens wider.  New blooms opening overnight.