Friday, January 24, 2020

The Bulb


Mr. Rosenberg was given an amaryllis bulb kit from a coworker at the holidays. I finally unboxed it last week. Following the directions on the lid, I soaked the small, compact soil ring and the bulb in lukewarm water for an hour. After an hour, the ring had swollen to fill the white pot. I buried the bulb from the shoulders up, set it on the kitchen table and I waited.

Three days later the rough brown tip of the bulb still looked the same. I thought I had missed a step in the directions. Maybe the bulb itself was a dud.

On the morning of the fourth day I woke up to find the smallest sliver of green pushed out of the top of the bulb. Each successive day since then, more green has shown itself. Sometimes I will walk by to the laundry room and on the way back it will look to have grown again. It probably has.

As I work on a current project that seems massive and unwieldy, I sit at the computer, the bulb in front of me. I look up at it and remember we do big work piece by piece, bit by bit. That under a rough surface, is the possibility of a glorious red flower. It could be a show-stopper.



















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