Sweet Plumeria

When i was 24, i lived in Hawai'i for 6 months and learned a smidgen of tropical flora. My first and favorite acquaintance was plumeria, which is also called frangipani. This very fragrant, usually white-with-a-yellow-center flower is used for making leis.

Nowadays my token plumeria blooms fitfully, sometimes in March, sometimes in September. Perhaps it has a few blossoms, then all its leaves fall off, and it goes dormant for months. This year it began blooming when i moved it outdoors in May, and it's still blooming. Go figure.

Sometimes our meditation practice is like this. It blooms unexpectedly, then goes through long dry spells when we even stop watering our practice by stopping sitting altogether. This is when we need a modicum of faith. I keep watering the bare branches of the plumeria for months. Sometimes it surprises me and blooms and blooms and blooms.