A Little Beauty…

Early this year, I splurged on this expensive tropical hibiscus plant. It seemed silly, and a needless expense, but I couldn’t stop staring at the huge blossoms, couldn’t stop myself from looping around the aisles of pots for “one more look.” And wow, am I glad I did.

Now the plant is happy here at my house, and I get to see it every day. At least once a week, and usually twice weekly, it unfurls a new, massive bloom–or two at once, as in this photo–which just makes my jaw drop and my eyes dance over their beauty.

I find I’m needing a bit of this now. Dasher, my dog, has had two seizures in two weeks. He’s fine, he hasn’t damaged his latest surgery (I’m pretty sure of that!), but it does mean that we’re going to have to either up his med dosages, or change his meds altogether. This always means running the risk of new breakthrough seizures as things are changing and then stabilizing. It means I won’t be sleeping well for weeks, as his seizures always come at nighttime–9 pm through 7 am–so any tiny noise he makes wakes me, my heart pounding with fear: seizure, or just rearranging himself; seizure, or licking himself? New meds also come with new potential side-effects (sigh), both short and long term. More things to worry about, and in such a young dog.

Right now, he’s sprawled on a dog bed that’s balanced on my lap. The valium that breaks him out of seizures makes him snoozy all day, afterwards. And this way, we both draw comfort from one another’s presence. (I’m really not sure who gets more benefit from our relationship–him or me! And that’s…kind of wonderful. ^_^ )

So walking outside and finding these blossoms all fiesta-bright and full of happiness? It’s a real boost. Cheap therapy. Turns out, that “expensive” plant wasn’t so expensive after all.