The Story of an Orchid

I brought home my beautiful orchid last summer and enjoyed her massive blooms for the entire summer. As fall came, her blooms slowly fell, one by one, until she was just a naked branch. She looked dead, but everything I read reassured me that blooms would return when the plant was ready. As the months passed, I became more skeptical of this miraculous regeneration. 

Suddenly, about three weeks ago, a tiny little nub appeared on the naked stalk. The little nub grew into a bud as other little nubs appeared on the branch. The little bud grew and grew and grew until it was the size of a walnut.

I knew that a bloom was on the horizon, and I was eager to see it! That little bud took FOREVER to get to its blooming phase. But, finally, the bud began to open. Very, very slowly. Yesterday afternoon, this is what my precious bud looked like.

And today? She is fully open and majestic as ever! It took over 24 hours for this bloom to open, and it was certainly worth it. The three-plus weeks that I watched that nub grow into a bud and then into a bloom is so completely worth the wait. I am eager to see the rest of the nubs transform into blooms as well. 

Sometimes the beauty in the world and the magic of nature just awes me.