When you think of Africa, do you think of rose gardens?
I didn't either. Nigeria has 2 seasons: wet and dry. We arrived in Nigeria at the end of the dry season. The ground was brown, the trees were brown, everything was brown ¦and it was so hot that we almost got on a plane back to America! Fortunately, we stuck it out and 2 months after the rain began. Rain brings many things: cooler weather, green grass and trees, fruit on trees, and at our house, ROSES! We have a ton of rose bushes and they continually bloom throughout the rainy season ¦which, unfortunately, is coming to a close.
Our two year old, Caden, loves to play outside. He is outside for hours (always with supervision). He enjoys swinging, running, kicking balls, riding his bike, visiting our goats, chasing the dog and yes, smelling flowers. Sometimes he will even bring me one! Well, today he stood at one rose for 5 minutes putting it up to his face and sniffing it, then looking up with a grin, enticing me to come over and sniff with him. I finally cut 2 of them off for him so he could wander around with them.
He would smell the flowers, look up and giggle. He turned them into swords to fight his imaginary dragons. Then, after minutes of admiring and enjoying the flowers, he reminded me that he is a toddler by pulling the petals off one at a time while he laughed hysterically!
So, while we enjoyed mangoes in April, and look forward to grapefruit and pomegranates in December, I have enjoyed the roses for 5 months, and Caden is learning to stop and smell the roses .
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