Sylvia's Journal

This morning in Quaker Meeting someone stood up and talked about the opportunity that sitting in silence offered for wonder. Wonder about the amazing workings of our body that happen without requiring any conscious attention or action from our side. Over the last 7 months we have been very tuned in to the wonder of our bodies; bones and ribs growing back together, vertebrae re-aligning (with some help) and nerves re-generating (with no help other than a reduction in alcohol consumption). Someone else spoke about her father who made a toast, on his 95^th birthday, to his heart and thanked it for its long and faithful service. And we wondered, in awed silence, about all these things that happen on their own without our interference.

We have an Amaryllis growing on our counter. The flower bud is about to pop (it will pop the day I leave for my next trip and will be done flowering the day I come back I am afraid – this is what happened to the Paper Whites and the Hyacinth). This Amaryllis last flowered about one year ago. I left it in the pot and cut the stalk back. For months it kept producing leaves. Last June I finally took it out of the pot with the intent to bury it in the ground and leave it there till fall. And then I forgot about it; and then things happened.

For months it sat outside by the front door. It got kicked aside when the ramp was built, then picked up and moved around from one place to another, like an orphan nobody wanted. It sat in the rain and then in the scorching heat. When the ramp was taken down I noticed it again but left it outside for a few more months. It was too late for planting it outside and too early for an indoor pot. In October I took it inside. I wondered whether there was any life left inside it. It looked terrible. I left it on the radiator to dry out from the fall rains. Late November, not knowing what else to do with it I planted it on pebbles that I kept wet. Nothing happened for months although it did produce a few roots but no other action was visible from the top. And so we all forgot about it again. And then, suddenly, about 4 weeks ago something light green appeared at the top in between the brown papery layers. Now, one firm healthy looking stalk is sticking out of the bulb with a fat flower bud on top. Another bud is wriggling itself into the world, one foot and a half behind the other. It is a source of great wonder.

The thought, planted in Meeting and fed by this Amaryllis miracle is a reminder of sorts; to look out for wonder(s).

Martin Imm and I were going to do some more wondering, in the skies over Essex County in the afternoon. Martin has a pilot’s license, although not current; still, he fits in the category of potential flying partners. We made these plans while the sky was blue and the winds fair. By the time Quaker Meeting for Business was over the skies had changed to a more ominous color and the winds had picked up. We canceled the trip and I am back to looking in wonderment at my Amaryllis, hoping with all my heart that the bud will burst open before I leave.