These are musings about orchids (aka my journal entries from a few years back when I used to journal about my orchids). I’ve decided to post them on my blog since they fit my blog’s theme. These are quite simple writings, straight from my journal. A few of the entries I wrote are occur around the time when my Grandma passed away. This is both the time of her birthday, and when we lost her. Though they are a little vulnerable for me to share, I thought they might help someone else. I know this can be a difficult week for many during the Mother’s Day holiday. I’ve found that writing, and gardening help me process my feelings.
November 2016-I Was Gifted an Orchid
I popped in into my hometown grocery store today to pick-up a bit of greenery. They have a small floral shop run by a young woman who also graduated from the same Floral Design program at our community college as I did, Parkland College. For that reason, it seems we have a natural connection. Whenever I come in to buy flowers, she’s very encouraging and gives me great deals. I have an upcoming book signing and like to give away a floral arrangement at my signings. While, I was shopping, she offered me an orchid that looked like it was on its last leg. ‘Here, maybe you can nurture this back to life.” As an aspiring floral designer and rookie gardener, I read this as a sign of belief in my abilities, so I accepted her gift of the orchid with gratitude.
I didn’t know the flower’s story, but I took it home and set it in the window sill in my laundry room, where it would get plenty of good sunshine. Every Sunday morning, I took it into the kitchen and watered it. Often, I would talk to it when I was in the laundry room. I believe I heard my Grandma say this works once. It might sound weird, but I believe plants are God’s creation and life. Therefore, I don’t see any harm in speaking life and kind words over them.
February 2017-Staring at My Orchid and My Computer
I’ve been busy over the holidays with book signings for a Chicken Soup for the Soul story that was just released and all that comes a long with the Christmas holidays. I’ve been lazy about writing again. It doesn’t seem like much is really happening with my orchid yet. I don’t think it is dead though. Not sure about my writing. I am still watering it, though sometimes it’s on Monday morning now. I still talk to it and touch the leaves to make sure they’re not too dusty. More musings on orchids to come…
May 2017-Blooming Season
My orchid bloomed beautifully. I was so proud. I honestly thought I might’ve killed it. It took so long. More musings on orchids to come…
Winter 2018-The Orchid is My Teacher
A lot of time has passed, since my last entry. My orchid has served as something for me to learn from. I care for it and it cares for me, as I observe it. I have only written sporadically lately. Like my writing, I thought my orchid had died. Again! Why am I losing faith, seeing this cycle once before? I have faithfully watered it every Sunday or Monday, but there’s not much happening. One Sunday I was quite afraid that I’d killed it. One of its large leaves died. I finally gained the courage to pluck it off and throw it in the trash. That’s very much how this last season of life has felt to me, as well. Like I’ve had a large dead leaf hanging on me, begging for a caretaker, a gardener of sorts to pluck it off. Many things in my life died over the last year. Try as I might, there doesn’t seem to be any way for me to resurrect them out of my own personal power or might. Over time, through much prayer, I’m learning to surrender it all to God. Letting my leaves (some writing too) go to the trash, or ground. More musings on orchids to come…
My orchid does not bloom year round, nor do I and that is okay. It needs time to rest and winter. Seasons come and go. There are times to be barren with no blooms and leaves, no laboring. No trying or doing, only allowing. Maybe there are things happening beneath the earth we cannot yet see. It is unknown. I am a student of my orchid and she is my teacher. It is humility I am learning. Who is growing? Me or my orchid?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 “to everything there is a season,
and a time for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
Spring 2018-The Orchid Blooms
One Sunday morning in March I brought my orchid to the kitchen sink for watering and I noticed a new glorious green nub breaking forth out from the dirt in my pot. It was tiny compared to its larger counterpart hovering above it, but it was beautiful still. My heart filled with joy at the re-birthing of my orchid and this wonderful sign of spring. Everything blooms in time. By the way did you know that orchids mean beauty, spirituality, birth, and more in many cultures? More musings on orchids to come…
Two Weeks Later-Palm Sunday 2018
I got up to get ready to go to church this morning and then could not get out of my driveway. Yesterday, we had a winter storm. A cocktail of ice, snow and sleet. I returned inside my house, resolved to have a relaxing morning until the temperatures rise and I could try again. I went to water my orchid and just as I was about to place it back on the window sill, I noticed a small little sprout, high up on the stem. Another hint of green poking through. Amazing! Here I am surrounded in snow and yet my orchid is preparing to burst forth with blooms. I believe this is something to look forward to. My daffodils bloomed this week too. My cats and I watched a bunny play in them last night, but they too are now covered with snow.
April 2018-Insects, Illness and Aging
I went to water my orchid today and the new sprouts breaking through the ground were pushing the old leaves to brown and die off. It was scary at first to see these giant leaves I’d nurtured to health all year discolor and fall off.
When the leaves died, I noticed a sticky sap at the root and a few days later, an ant invasion. This was very disturbing. My orchid is an indoor plant and I don’t want ants in my house. I felt I had no choice but to spray my orchid with an insecticide. So, that’s what I did, With a sick feeling in my stomach. I sprayed.
I’ve read up on this ant problem and learned that the ants like this nectar that the orchids produce. Unfortunately, the sign of ants mean that there are likely mealy bugs in the potting soil. They suggest putting my orchid outside and to consider re-potting. I feel like I may lose my orchid. It feels like too much work during this season of life, so I put it back up in my window sill for now.
My Grandma is in the hospital and I find myself thinking about the orchid while I’m visiting with her, so I tell her about it. We may have to move Grandma to an assisted living home. Much like re-potting the orchid, it stirs up grief and sadness to think of it. More musings on orchids to come…
July 2018-Seasons Change & I’m Gifted a New Orchid
My Grandma passed away at the age of 95 on May 10, 2018, and I also lost my orchid to the ants. On June 10, 2018, my son got engaged. While we were cleaning out my Grandma’s home, we discovered an orchid that had survived the many weeks while she’d been in and out of the hospital and nursing home. It was a bit wilted and had one remaining bloom on it. I decided to bring it home and re-pot it in one of my Grandma’s flower pots and set it in my window sill.
To Everything There is a Season
1To everything there is a season,
and a time for every purpose under heaven:
2a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to break down and a time to build,
4a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6a time to search and a time to count as lost,
a time to keep and a time to discard,
7a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
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