Delayed Gratification

Three years ago we decided to enjoy our hometown Day Lily festival garden tour. At the beginning of the tour, the "man clan" seemed to exude an attitude of "we will endure this as our duty to mom...."


The last garden of of the day I encountered some charming older ladies. We talked for a long time. While I was gleaning Day Lily wisdom, the "man clan" settled into the garden. EJC found a veranda and settled in a swing with our 1 month old MLC. Both boys decided to start reading the names of the various Day Lilies. They became intrigued. EDC found one named "Spiderman". A beautiful choice, I might add!


JOC found one that caught his attention...it's name was "World Class Oddity". It was not in bloom, he chose it only for the name. EJC and I were rather humored by the latter selection. Those that know JOC would understand. Not to say that he is an odd fellow, but he has alway had such a unique way about him...an independance and free spirit unlike any one else in the house. The Day Lily fit him. That day we were able to buy Spiderman, but the World Class Oddity would not be for sale until the following year. We were not able to talk him into making another selection for that day...he would wait.

Every time we passed that Day Lily garden for the next 12 months I got an eager reminder regarding that "World Class Oddity". Last year the Day Lily Festival was during our church's annual Bible Conference, so we were not able to leisurely stroll through the gardens as we had the previous year, however, we did go get that "World Class Oddity". He had finally gotten his own Day Lily. He has checked on it rather frequently for the past year. After it was first planted in our garden, he was rather concerned because it looked rather pitiful. I explained to him that the plant's energy was establishing the root system so that it would be strong for the coming year.

Well, yesterday all the waiting and watering paid off in a spectacular way!