Plumeria
“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.”
Isaiah 35: 1-2
When I was in seventh grade we moved to Hawaii. I will never forget arriving in a red polyester dress, with nylon stockings and black patent leather shoes. In those days, the planes in Hilo were greeted by mobile staircases. I still remember the first rush of welcoming tropical air, as if it had just swept across my face, only moments ago. I so love the sunshine and warmth! I also remember noticing that our welcoming committee was dressed in bright, colorful, and much more comfortable clothing than me – including flip flops which I soon traded my shoes in for, and never truly looked back. The nice folks also brought us leis made from Plumeria’s, it was delightful!
Within a few short weeks, of arriving in Hawaii, I mastered making Plumeria leis. The flowers were abundant, and you quite literally string them, as if they were pearls – I never made one from orchids, nor did I ever wear one made of orchids, but they are lovely.
It was Joan Hayden who gave me my first promise of a Plumeria tree. She ordered three inch branches from Hawaii, and we both set off to grow them, hoping they would acclimate to Florida which they did. I now have seven full grown trees in my yard. My Plumeria’s are all deciduous, so you must acclimate to those naked branches, around once a year; but when they begin to bud, small signs of life coming forward, making way for beautiful long leaves, and then finally the brilliant and sweet smelling flowers, well then for a least a few minutes of your day, all is right with the world!
Last summer, when it became apparent that my Mother would no longer be able to travel south, we decided to move north. Joy and Juan opened their home to Kate, Merry, and a whole bunch of stuff! I imagined we would spend a month or two, at the most, encroaching in Juan and Joy’s world; we put at least four if not five or six, offers on houses, none of which were accepted. Well that is not true; Tom accepted our offer, but his house would not appraise for what he had thought it worth. Those months did not turn out as I expected; but they did give me the wonderful opportunity to spend the final months of my Mother’s life with her, for which I will be eternally grateful to God and the people who made that possible.
When we left Florida, it was with the intention of putting the house on the market, which we did. I knew I would be back to sign the papers, when the house sold, thus I broke off a few branches from my Plumeria trees, to start new plants, for my new house, albeit in pots. I never got the branches planted, before heading north, and thus they ended up spending the rest of the summer, the fall, and winter, sitting on top of the generator.
After my Mother passed away, we came back to our extremely empty house; we had left the grill and two chase lounges which were not worth moving. Yet, there were many wonders awaiting us, like having every single friend we have in Florida, open their homes to us – literally. We arrived in Florida, in the middle of the night, when we woke up, and went outside we first encountered “someplace to sit and drink your coffee” two chairs, a table, and cushions! You have no idea how wonderful that was, my dear friend. Without exception, we have been offered guest bedrooms, children’s bedrooms, the whole house . . . told to use whatever we need, had furniture and bedding and kitchen items brought to us, to help us make a home again. It has been a rather amazing outpouring of love, and I will always be grateful to all of you. I know how modest and private my friends are, so I will not mention your names, but you each know who you are and how remarkably blessed I feel to call you my friend.
When we walked around the house that first morning, we came upon the Plumeria branches – in bloom!
Now, if you have ever worked with Plumeria’s you may know that in order to propagate them, you need to cut off a branch, let it dry out, as to avoid root rot, and then plant it in soil; but should the cuttings really sit for months? I do not think so.
This morning, I went outside to see my ducks; and there, still sitting on the generator are my Plumeria branches – once again in bloom! Enough already, today they get planted; if ever a group of plants deserved to live, it is these branches!
