a rose is a Rose is a rose

There are varying percentages of me that subscribe to the belief that before we incarnate into this present physical life, we choose some of the pertinent  particulars of our lives. ( like shopping? : ) ) (no no no,  more like life's lessons and expressions) Our names, close family members, handicaps, etc.
 All through my life people have been impressed by my name; " 0 what a great/beautiful name you have; blah blah blah" whereas to me it has felt quite oversized; as if i weren't enough of something for it. Only now, poised halfway between 50 & 60 do i feel like we are starting to fit each other... i have risen to my Rose.

I have had help. In the form of a rose. This is a rose i found growing in a tangled patch close to our house in Woodfin NC, which brushes up against the back side of Asheville. As i had recently given birth to my daughter Rose ( yes i know this thickens the plot) i was, into roses.. and this one even smelled nice! And see, at this point i was already a budding student of Aromatherapy. So i waded in, got scratched & dug up a clump to take home.
 That was 25 years ago and pieces of  'this rose' have followed me to 2 other houses locally, a move to Arkansas, back to NC, back to Ark, back to NC. One day on a curiosity drive i wanted to see if this original patch still existed as this is my rose of choice for distillation and having more plants would enable me to meet demand. I have distilled many variations on the rose theme; from doing different species to co-distilling it with raspberries and Agarwood but this one continually rises to 'most fav.' And of course the patch had been paved over.

But the story does continue. A couple of years ago a dear friend of mine said she had a rose that looked like the rose pictured on my website. She too had dug this rose in Woodfin, albeit along a different road. Would i like some of it? We waited some months for an optimal time of year to visit and dig. Got scratched and literally filled the van with a dozen more rose plants.

I don't know her name and have never been able to get her IDed and i'm only guessing when i call her a Centifolia, but our story isn't finished yet.

Michael Woods for Dabney Rose