Bloom

Recently my mom gave us a box with a plant in it. Well, what could potentially be a plant. It was an Amaryllis flower. All I had to do what put in into the pot and water it. (You guys have no idea how terrifying this is for someone who has never been able to get plants to stay alive. Of all the plants in the world please let me be able to grow this one.) I heard rumors that these things are really sturdy, and grow in any condition, so potentially this was the plant for me. And obviously I've correctly named my youngest daughter, who is as stubborn and sturdy as her flowery namesake.

I watered it, made sure it was getting sun, all that stuff you're supposed to do for plants. It started growing, and a couple weeks later (today) the blooms finally started to open. I was SO excited. It's great to see this little bit of color in the middle of winter. I even made Amaryllis pose for a few pictures beside it. She was mostly interested in trying to poke it.

The first time I heard of an "amaryllis", was in a song by Shinedown, Billy and I's favorite band. We joked that if we ever had another baby, and it was a girl, we would definitely name her Amaryllis. I didnt realize until a little later that an Amaryllis is a flower. We also didn't think we would really end up having another baby at the time...but you know the rest of that story. I'm so glad that we were able to use that name, and grateful for the wild, stubborn goofball baby who goes by it.

One of the lines of the song goes like this: "Cuz I wanna know you, Amaryllis. Bloom." I love that song, and I love how fitting it is for the youngest member of this family. She is bright and bold and sturdy and stubborn...much like this flower. She is an unexpected bright spot in our lives, one we didn't know if we would ever see when we lost her twin sister. I'm so grateful for the chance to watch Amaryllis bloom.