NEIGHBORLY GIFT

“Hey, I didn’t know we had a Rose of Sharon bush in our yard.” I was looking out our dining room window at its beautiful purple flowers that had just begun to bloom.

“We don’t.” My husband Steven said as he came over to take a peek. “Well, would you look at that.” he laughed. “I guess one escaped from the neighbors’ property.”

When our new neighbors moved in, a little over a year ago, there had been several Rose of Sharon on the edge of their property. Last fall when they put up their stockade fence the Rose of Sharon were where they wanted the fence to go so, we sadly watched as they pulled the bushes out.

Now I couldn’t help but smile as I slipped on a pair of flip-flops and headed out the back door with Steven following right behind me.

“I’ve always wanted Rose of Sharon in our yard.” I said over my shoulder as I came closer to the plant.

“You have?” Steven came and stood next to me. “You never mentioned it.”

“That’s because I didn’t know I wanted one until just now!” I leaned down to see that the bush had been planted close to our chain link fence and had woven itself through the links and popped out on our side. “How come we never noticed this before?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I guess it was so close to all the others that we just assumed it was on their property.”

I reached up to touch one of the delicate flowers. “Aren’t they beautiful.” I looked along the branches and could see dozens of buds that were ready to pop. “I think this is my favorite color, too.” I pulled the branch with the purple flower closer wondering if there was any fragrance. “Nope. No smell at all.” I looked over at Steven. “I guess that’s good news for you and Alex.”

Our son Alex came out on the back deck. “What’s good news?” he asked.

“Our new Rose of Sharon doesn’t have a scent, so it won’t be giving you any allergy attacks.”

Alex came over and looked up at the bush which was well over eight feet tall. “When did you plant that?”

“We didn’t.” I looked over at him and smiled. “It was a gift.”

“A gift?” he looked confused.

I pointed to the bottom of the plant that had worked its way between our fence. “It escaped from the neighbors’ yard and now it lives with us!”

“All right.” Alex laughed. “I guess, congratulations.”

“Thank you.” I called as he headed back to the house. I looked over at Steven then back at the new addition to our yard. “I really do feel like a got a present today.”