Priceless Dreams From A Ten-Cent Flower
Planting dream seeds post-Lei Day and in preparation of a new moon
Dear Reader,
Two summers ago (or was it three?), with the helping hands of beloveds (one very small), we planted a flowering tree that we envisioned growing up and framing the site of our now little home. Between then and now, we considered other locations on the land for where to build this nest but after exhausting all potentially more suitable options, agreed that our first choice was still our best. Today, as I write this, marks one full month in our casetta and to commemorate, the tree we planted some summers ago is beginning to bloom.
Puakenikeni (Fagraea berteriana) is not native to the Hawaiian islands, nor was it a canoe plant brought by ancient voyagers. Nonetheless, over the last century and a half, it has been adopted here with as much love as if it were Hawai’i’s own, a cherished flowering tree for stringing lei. Its name, meaning “ten cent flower”, harks back to its value per blossom in the late 1800’s when it was so highly prized for its Gardenia-like scent. It’s simple — five-petaled and trumpet shaped — but its intoxicating perfume and magical color changing ability, shifting from white to orange as it ages, makes it one of my absolute favorites.
In these early blooming days as our Puakenikeni slowly offers us one flower at a time, I leave them be on the tree until the edges just start to brown, then pluck them off to rest on the kitchen counter, where they spend the next twenty-four hours wilting and scenting our entire home — all two-hundred-and-fifty feet of it. This pupu of pua are a mere sampling, a floral appetizer, to the full-bloom vision we planted that summer — a dream of outdoor candlelit midweek meals with friends, Sunday morning coffee in the sun, slow-paced afternoons and deep conversations from porch rocking chairs, fragranced by the scent of ten-cent flowers floating across the yard.
Last week Hawai’i celebrated May Day, more intentionally and accurately referred to as Lei Day, a day to celebrate and recognize the precious custom of giving and receiving lei. And yes, Puakenikeni is abundantly a part of the celebration. With the lightness and joy (and scents) of Lei Day still lingering in the air, our flowers beginning their blooming cycle, and a new moon just around the bend, themes of planting dream seeds for the visions we hold are evident.
A dear friend has reminded me that opportunities only present themselves to us when we are ready for them; an interesting concept. In an analogy, what preparations and amendments can we make to the soil for the conditions to be more fertile for our dream seeds? I know for myself there is a dream I hold that extends beyond my vocational life but to what I feel is my life’s work, a dream I’ve carried loosely in my pocket and have cultivated with varying efforts throughout my years, yielding inconsistent results. But recently, as I’ve affirmed that this dream is what I want for my life and my future, I am dedicating focused attention to fleshing out the details of this dream and to clarifying the vision, stepping closer to the door on which opportunity will (I believe) come knocking.
Other facets to these preparations include facing uncomfortable self-placed hurdles like fear of failure and loss, people pleasing (that again), self worth, and restructuring my relationship to money. While my friend’s belief that the opportunities we desire only present themselves when we have the capacity to say yes to them may sound like a version of woo universe manifestation, for me it’s landed like a grounding, sobering, cheek-smack of reality. If I continue to fear creating my dream and having it taken away from me, or losing a substantial amount of money in the process, or the optics of failure, I am not in a position to say yes to committing to an opportunity that holds the potential to be my greatest full-bloom dream because I can not see beyond the risk.
How can we make ready, not only in the dreamy details of our greatest desires but in priming ourselves in heart, mind, and soul, to be seeded in the most fertile conditions, with the most optimal sunlight, so that when the time is ripe we might punch up through the soil with an resounding YES, petals unfurling? Sometimes it takes an action as small as planting the first flowering tree for the grand vision of your life to take shape.
Thank you for reading. The comments and ♥︎‘s you leave on these letters are an appreciated affirmation. If something here spoke to you, please share this publication with a friend.