Our mother passed away May 30, 2011. We lost our father May 2, 2002. Both of our parents lived long lives, and though it is always hard to lose someone, you try to hold on to the good memories, and family traditions they instilled in you. I could go on and on about how it feels to lose your biggest fan, how watching a parent go through so much is agonizing, but that is not what this is about...maybe someday I will be strong enough to share a more in depth post about all of that, but that day is not today.
Our mother loved plants, indoor plants. She had a special way of making plants prosper and grow like nothing I have ever seen before. She and I had a running joke through the years, that I had something in me that just killed plants...and she was serious, because it was true. I could jokingly touch one of her plants, and honestly, that part would start dying! And even when I grew up and moved out, and started having plants in my own homes, I just could not make them thrive, they always looked sick.
Well, eventually, I found out I had a special way with outdoor plants. And that made our mom crazy, she just could not understand how I could love landscaping, and plants so much, and they would grow and be so beautiful.
The whole point of this is to share that before our mom got really sick and had to be hospitalized, she had given me a bunch of cups with clippings of what she called "wandering jew", but the actual name is Tradescantia. I told her, there was no way this was gonna work, I cannot keep houseplants alive. But she had faith that I could do this. With all that went on the next few months, I totally forgot about the clippings that I had sitting in the cups, in a box, out on our carport. When it got really cold outside, and we started cleaning up for winter, I found them, and realized that most had already died. There were still about 5 clippings that were not completely gone. So of course, I was frantic, thinking that here I had lost my mother, and I had let her very favorite plant die! I took the few clippings inside, and did my very best to care for them, and throughout the winter, they grew. So much so, that I was able to get a few more clippings from them, and root those in water until there was enough to put into two pots.
I asked my brother if he wanted one, so that he could keep that memory going also. And he agreed. So, now, he will post a picture on facebook randomly, to show me how the plant is doing. This is his latest picture of his plant from our mom...
I am so proud of him, especially because this truly started with just a few sprigs! But, I do have to admit, because I am somewhat competitive, and I love that I was able to not only keep my part alive, it is thriving to the point that I will be able to cut a lot of pieces off and start rooting them to share with others! So, here is the picture of my plant....
I know for a fact, that our mom would be completely shocked that these plants are doing so well! So there you go, we are keeping a small piece of our mom alive, through something that she loved very much.
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