Have I mentioned...

that I love hydrangeas?  I'm pretty sure they are my favorite flower.  They are so bold and "in your face".  Nothing shy, or unassuming about these beauties.

And they have so many different personalities.

Near the beginning of their bloom cycle they are the most lovely shade of spring green, the perfect background to support and highlight the show-off roses.

I have a whole bank of hydrangeas around the front corner of my home, following the porch all the way around the side.  Here they are teasing, just starting to show a little color.

Then throughout the long summer months they are the showstoppers of the garden.  Big, beautiful, bold blossoms in a variety of colors.  I have pink ones, and whites ones, and LOTS of blue ones, and my favorite which are the big burgundy ones.

And the thing I like best about my hydrangeas is that their beauty lasts well into the autumn months.  After everything else has bloomed its last, has faded, and fallen, the faithful hydrangeas are still going strong, like no one ever told them it was okay to stop filling the measure of their creation --so they don't.  They don't give up until the very last second, until the eventual killing frosts of winter.

Even when it is time to clean up the yard for winter, time to pull up all the other flowers and prune the roses, it is too painful to cut down the hydrangeas because who wants to interfere with something that still thinks it is in its prime?

I couldn't resist the other day when I peaked out my kitchen window and delightfully saw that they were not giving up.  I went out and cut a huge, lavish, gorgeous bouquet.  If they weren't giving up on themselves, neither would I.

I think I would like to be as the faithful hydrangeas.  I want to shine and be a source of joy even past my expected expiration date.  Who's to say when we are done; who's to say when we have given all we can give, when we are no longer needed?  So, don't cut me down yet.  I'm still going strong!