That's a pretty flower, isn't it?
I bought this bulb several weeks ago with the idea that I'd put it into a small pot and force it. Loads of folks do that every year. The bulbs were on display as I entered the grocery store, so I thought, "Why not? I've always had a green thumb. I've never tried this. It seems simple..."
There was only one hitch to my plan: I never took the bulb out of the plastic bag it came in, but not because I misplaced it or forgot. At least once a day for weeks I'd walk by the bag with the bulb and think, " This is so wasteful. Why don't I just plant the damn thing?" But, I didn't. It just sat there waiting for me to attend to it.
Or not. Because the other day, I walked by the bag, ready to feel that now familiar pang of guilt that I hadn't taken advantage of the beauty promised to me if I just planted the bulb, that I was wasting time, and money and resources, when I noticed that the flower stalk was sprouting out of the bulb while it was still in the bag.
That spurred me to action. I felt like the flower was speaking to me, metaphorically, folks. I don't usually hear plants talk. And this is what it was saying:
Remember this 1958 movie? Probably no one who reads this blog actually saw it in the theater, but, maybe, like me, you watched it as the late, late movie when you should have been sleeping, but your parents let you have a TV in your room so you watched too much TV and stayed up way too late.
Yes?
Either way, that's what I heard this plant say and the next day it was potted and watered and sitting in a sunny spot.
Having been spoken to by a plant, I started to think about what this act of floral survival had to say to me about perseverance and struggling to achieve despite obstacles. I found myself wondering if the flower was all the more beautiful because it had to fight its way into existence and if that too had a broader message. I know this all seems a bit silly but, like the idea that beauty is everywhere as long as we really look for it, the same might be true about life lessons.
Again, it might seem a bit ridiculous, but, as I prep for QuiltCon West 2016 in Pasadena next week and feel the urgency that comes with a looming deadline, I think about striving and working, oftentimes without much feedback, and pushing forward. Then I look at my flower and think, "I to want to make it too!"
Or, maybe I just need a new red dress? :)