Missed the school bus, but saw the roses

This morning we missed the bus to my son's elementary school. I didn't realize we were headed out later than usual, though I did note that the Upper School bus was already here and waiting for my other boys. Still, the bus that usually drives by us right before the Lower School bus arrives did its normal morning pass by just a few minutes after we started waiting on the sidewalk. Then some dogs came by and they were on our side of the street (no running across the street) and friendly (not all dogs are good with strangers or kids) and so my son was THRILLED to get to pet them.

Usually we play word games on my phone while waiting for the bus, but this morning my phone was updating, so we started talking and looking around. And then I noticed that sticking out our hedges, towards the sidewalk, was a thin branch with green leaves and small thorns. It surprised me in its location and design, because the rest of the hedge was pretty well behaved in shape and doesn't have thorns. At first I figured it was some kind of weed, but then we started inspecting closer and, at first, couldn't see where this branch originated.

Then I realized it went right to the base of the hedge and actually, there were several other longer branches jutting out of the top of the hedge and they were ROSES. A full-on Rose brush that has sprung up in the middle of my hedge. I would have sworn it wasn't there yesterday (though I am sure it was.)

And so we looked, and marveled at how this rose bush managed to get the light it needed to grow from INSIDE the hedges. And it's grown so tall that it has about 1 foot of height about the hedge (which is pretty high.) I even saw a few clusters of tiny flower buds. I was so enthralled by this discovery that it was probably ten minutes before I realized we were still waiting for the bus and either it was very late or we missed it. Well, you know the answer already. But, here's the thing. I wasn't put into the kind of anxious mood that might usually cause when the schedule is thrown off and things didn't go as planned and I have to think it's because I was stopping to smell (or see...the smell will come when they flower) the roses.