Justifiable cheating, I say

Just found out today, completely out of the blue, my daughter and her beau are flying home to Australia after living and working in New York City. They fly out on a Dept of Foreign Affairs flight TOMORROW - wow! I mean, wow!! So after the quarantine period finishes at the end of the month, I'll be able to hug and kiss my daughter for the first time in 2 years. Zoom is great, but face-to-face is so much better.
For me, no other plant flowering in the garden right now quite captures the moment like the Strelitzia does, so I'm using this for today's pic - even though I took it over 2 years ago. About the time she went to NYC.
AKA the Crane Flower and the Bird's Tongue, I think its Bird of Paradise tag best fits the bill.
Gorgeous, intense colours, majestic fronds, and so delicate and fragile-looking - but actually as tough as old boots. They thrive in the full hot summer sun, and need so little watering that they must somehow absorb moisture from the air at night.
The flowers certainly take their time to emerge from the end of the thick, straight stems, and you can get a little obsessive following their tiny-steps progress each morning. But when the flower finally does emerge in full, it feels like a minor miracle every time, so perfect in every intricate detail. Just like the birth of a child, only not so personal, and it truly lifts the spirits.
Exactly how I'm feeling right now.