A Valentine's gift

Last year on Valentine's day The Man was out of town, and due to be home soon after. My heart full of love dreams and missing him. I stopped in a shop that evening and saw the sweetest thing, a scruffy guy with a camo-back pack and a single, lovely, pink rose sticking out of the bag. I wanted to take his picture, but didn’t for fear of being too conspicuous and making him uncomfortable. But I smiled at the thought of him and the possibility of some cherished smiling girl out there as I left the shop. Driving up to the stop light I saw the same rose laying in the middle of the street! I anxiously scanned the street for him to no avail while imagining his embarrassment as he reached behind his back to surprise that girl of his with a little piece of thoughtfulness only to grasp at thin air. Then another thought struck me, maybe this rose was really for me; maybe this was God’s way of reminding me that he loved me. I stared down at the lovely rose, perfectly formed contrasted against the cold wet pavement, and started to open my door to claim it, pausing as I noticed a car turning onto my tight street. And like slow motion, my eyes never leaving the rose, I watched in horror as the mean old vehicle ran over first the stem, tilting that flower face up towards me and the giant tires slowly but quickly like in a bad dream flattened my little self ordained gift from God. I sat at the stop light, stunned, staring at the ground. Now it was a little circle of crushed dirty nothing, little more than a 1/4" thick. What could I do but laugh? Maybe that was God’s little gift to me.