The ocotillo enchanted me from the first time I learned about it. I read a sign about this appealing plant in the Phoenix botanical gardens. Early settlers would build fences from the thorny stems to keep their cattle in. Often, the stems, after looking completely dead, would root and spread leaves, grow and blossom, all within the fence.
The ocotillo has adapted to the desert by practicing extreme dormancy. In the dry season, it drops its leaves. The leafless branches are grey and dry and hard. They are straight enough to place very close to each other in a fence. They have one-inch thorns that spiral up the stem. The thorns point straight out in all four directions, and there is barely room to place a finger between them. With its interesting form, and varied grey lines down the stems, the dry ocotillo is attractive in a stark way.
When the rains come, the ocotillo transforms. Green leaves sprout between the thorns until the thorns are scarcely noticeable. More stems grow from the base, in a reaching rosette. The gently curved stems seem to sway like underwater fronds, up to twenty feet tall. And, in season, joyful red-orange blooms burst from the tips like waving hands. A watered ocotillo is a beautiful, lush, exuberant, growing plant. A dry ocotillo looks like firewood.
Like the ocotillo, we live through cycles. We have more choices than a rooted plant. Yet sometimes the resources we need are more available than others. Sometimes we have to wait to get what we want or need. What do we do then? Do we rail against the scarcity of water, wasting energy? Do we patiently drop our leaves until the rains return? Do we look for new ways to get water?
For me, watching the ocotillos, and realizing that there will be cycles, has helped me relax in the dry times. Not everything can happen right now. I can’t do everything at once, and I wouldn’t want to. There is a time to sleep, and a time to wake. There are times to work, and times to play. There will be more sun in summer, and less in the winter. Plants take their time to grow, and projects advance one step at a time.
Sometimes, waiting will be the best choice. Enjoy it, and you’ll be ready to blossom when the rain comes.
From Wishing to Writing: A Workbook for Writers
(with special attention to science fiction)
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