It Will Stop You in Your Tracks
There is no reason really to go looking for Tea Olive. It will find you. You’re walking along minding your own business and there it is – that rich creamy sweet sensation. And so you pause, close your eyes, breathe in, and smile. OK, where is it? Tea Olive aroma wafts and bends this way and that, and has a way of settling in at certain spots, not always next to the plant itself. So you look around.
Tea Olive is a large nondescript bush. The flowers are tiny, and you could walk ten times by one that is in bloom and not even notice it. It’s the smell that gets your attention. So there you are in that certain spot, holding onto that last breath while you look this way and that. There it is! You walk up to it, see the small white flowers, put your nose in and breathe, expecting….But, hmmm. It’s less rich than the aroma fifteen feet over that way. Tea Olive is funny that way.
Tea Olive is a large nondescript bush. The flowers are tiny, and you could walk ten times by one that is in bloom and not even notice it. It’s the smell that gets your attention. So there you are in that certain spot, holding onto that last breath while you look this way and that. There it is! You walk up to it, see the small white flowers, put your nose in and breathe, expecting….But, hmmm. It’s less rich than the aroma fifteen feet over that way. Tea Olive is funny that way.
Tea Olive Blossoms
As for myself I like to shake the hands of my friends; with a Tea Olive this means shaking a branch. Tea Olive leaves rattle when the branch is shaken. They really do – and it’s a dead give away. So go ahead and rattle a Tea Olive today.
There is another thing I like about Tea Olives; they bloom several times a year, at least here in Columbia. I have never really figured out why they bloom when they bloom. It’s unpredictable. So after a week or two of enjoying the aroma the blooms drop off and back to normal everything goes. You forget all about that big green bush over there. Until next time that is. You are once again minding your own business, caught up in some really important thing, and there it is again, that smell. It always seems to sneak up on you. It is always – in that first moment- unexpected. It is always a gift.
If you won’t tell anyone I will confess to something else about smelling Tea Olive. Usually when I walk into a cloud of Tea Olive aroma hovering in the air, I smile, and I always – always – think of my dear grandmother Nanny. And some of those times I shed a tear. I do miss Nanny. But my tears always turn back to smiles because I think of Nanny loving her Tea Olive, especially that big one near to the side door to her kitchen. I can see her, getting out of her car in the garage near the kitchen door, being hit by the Tea Olive aroma, smiling, and knowing the same feelings I know. And then I feel close to her.
There is another thing I like about Tea Olives; they bloom several times a year, at least here in Columbia. I have never really figured out why they bloom when they bloom. It’s unpredictable. So after a week or two of enjoying the aroma the blooms drop off and back to normal everything goes. You forget all about that big green bush over there. Until next time that is. You are once again minding your own business, caught up in some really important thing, and there it is again, that smell. It always seems to sneak up on you. It is always – in that first moment- unexpected. It is always a gift.
If you won’t tell anyone I will confess to something else about smelling Tea Olive. Usually when I walk into a cloud of Tea Olive aroma hovering in the air, I smile, and I always – always – think of my dear grandmother Nanny. And some of those times I shed a tear. I do miss Nanny. But my tears always turn back to smiles because I think of Nanny loving her Tea Olive, especially that big one near to the side door to her kitchen. I can see her, getting out of her car in the garage near the kitchen door, being hit by the Tea Olive aroma, smiling, and knowing the same feelings I know. And then I feel close to her.
Nanny's Tea Olive Today
These days I don’t have much, not even a yard, of my own. But today I had a Tea Olive. It doesn’t matter that it was someone else’s Tea Olive. As the Apostle Paul said, All things are ours. Which means for me I get to be thankful that God has blessed my neighbor with such a wonderful plant, feel glad for him, and just enjoy that Tea Olive as if it were mine.
Hope you get to breathe in some Tea Olive today.
Hope you get to breathe in some Tea Olive today.
