Stop and Smell the... Ranunculus

Last week I blogged about my ridiculous inability to stop, smell, and savor life's metaphorical roses sometimes. So I decided to do a little impromptu rose smelling to celebrate a semi-momentous occasion in my life. Today, a year ago, I spent 7 hours of my life chatting with a guy named Christopher.... but I knew him as "Phoenix" back then ;)

He asked for my number because he wanted to hear more about my life altering international excursion. He wanted to hear more and see pictures... and to ask questions like "what was the hardest thing about being a missionary?"... and "what was the most important thing God taught you on your trip?" He didn't want to date me. He was leaving on his own adventure to Venezuela and Honduras for missions and teaching... for two years. It made sense he didn't want to date and that he honestly just wanted to hear about my trip to prepare himself for his. It made sense. It did. And then we talked for 7 hours about who knows what... and then we hung out again when I helped him pick out a camera for his trip. Then we hung out again.... and again. Then I overhear him tell his friend at dinner that he cut his contract with the international school so he'd only be gone for one year. WHAT?! Then he cut his contract all together and moves to Orange County. WHAT?! And now... a year later... we're dating. And... I love the guy. Who knew? There's only one person I can honestly say knew before we did... Alyssa Issenberg aka "Soliel." She knew a whole year before we did.

So back to smelling the Roses... or Ranunculus... whatever. In commemoration of that fateful day, I surprised Christopher  with a trip to the Flower Fields on our way down to San Diego for a shoot. We walked around, took a hay ride, learned the history of the flower fields, and smelled hundreds of beautiful flowers. Here's some of my favorite shots of the day... I got to whip out my macro... HOLLAAA!

We had a leisurely lunch at Rubios (for old time's sake), got some hot tea and coffee and walked through fields rich in color and poignant in memories. We talked about how good our God is, how far He's brought both of us, separately, in our journeys. We stood surrounded by colorful reminders of God's provision and thanked him for how much He's given us in such trying and stretching times in our lives. Twas a good day to smell the roses... it felt as if their fragrance wafted whispers of His smile. I could stay there all day everyday...

And now... a digi flip book yo!