My amaryllis is blooming...I counted at least 16 blossoms in full splendor with others coming but still in bud. An amaryllis is a late fall tradition with me, one I shared with my mother. I always bought at least one for me and one for her. My first amaryllis came from a boyfriend who just showed up on my doorstep one day with this strange bulb in a pot. Come to think of it, he was also the first boy who took me to dinner in an expensive restaurant. He was a physicist and very smart; one of our dates was a trip to the astronomy lab where he worked and we went to see the stars. His mother was my laurel teacher and I loved her.

An amaryllis is such a statement of beauty for beauty's sake. I planted these bulbs before Christmas, and I've faithfully watered them. Here they are, piercing the air with beauty. Everyone who sees them gasps. I do every time I walk in the room. The bulbs are big and ungainly when you buy them--nothing pretty that even hints at the beauty inside. However, they have such heart. The red-flowered bulb has three bloom stems, one with six blossoms and the other two with four. The white-flowered bulb has four bloom stems, two with two blossoms and two with three. If I take care of the amaryllis, keep it outside and watered in the summer and just let the long leaves flourish, I can bring it inside in the early fall and keep it in a dark place until December when I can plant it again. It will bloom again. Sometimes, even after the first blooms have gone, another bloom spike will grow and blossom. Sometimes second blooming doesn't work and only leaves come.

The blossoms are the point of this bulb--much like a tulip. I don't know if there is a place on the earth where an amaryllis grows wild. Maybe there is. But as far as I can see, the only purpose of this plant is to produce gorgeous blossoms. These blossoms aren't like an orchid, whose blooms keep for months. These blossoms last 5-7 days and they wilt. But what a glorious show they put on for those few days. It's like the Edna ST. Vincent Millay poem

First Fig
My candle burns at both ends,
It will not last the night.
But, oh my foes and ah my friends--
It gives a lovely light.

This is a lot of talk about the properties of the amaryllis. But there is a point to it. It's okay to just be who we are. We can give all our existence to beauty if that's our purpose. The amaryllis doesn't hold back--it just gives and gives and makes a spectacular show. It doesn't matter that the show isn't a long one. It just has to be beautiful.

If our point is to be beautiful in our existence, meaning that we reach our potential, we don't have to be worried about how long the show goes on. We just have to live in the present and make the most beautiful blossom we can. Our lives are all a little like the amaryllis, full of potential that just needs some soil and water to flourish and fulfill the measure of our creation.

We all need space and feeling valued. We all want to feel we are important to someone else. We all want a beautiful blossom, a contented life. May we consider this gorgeous flower and realize the transformation that takes place under the surface of the soil. Another poet, Sara Teasdale said,

Spend all you have for loveliness
Buy it and never count the cost.
For one, white singing hour of peace,
Count many a year of strife well-lost.
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.

May we spend our lives in building beauty, even if it doesn't last long, and may we have the soil and nutrients that are necessary for our life's work.

Blessings to you all...