Agaisnt The Odds

If you asked anyone who has known me for any length of time, they will tell you I have no living plants in my house. It's not because I don't like having them. In fact, I love plants; especially flowering plants. But, I seem to have what's called a "Brown Thumb". Anything I plant dies before it even makes it out of it's fertile soil. Either I overwater it in hopes of getting it to sprout as quickly as possible or I don't seem to water it enough. Both methods have treated me to the sorriest looking plants on the planet. Honestly, I just don't have the aptitude and patience to grow plants.

So, you can image my dismay when in a gift basket a collegue gave me for Christmas contained a bulb "kit". Oh, dear. I didn't know whether to just donate it to a charity in hopes of some green thumb hippy pick it up and give the plant the life it deserved or to have at it myself.

I looked over the directions and figured it didn't look too tough. It almost read like "growing a PaperWhite for Dummies" type instructions. I gave it a shot. I planted the bulb in the soil they provided. I watered it every so often and put it by the sunniest window we've got.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the bulb started to sprout some stalks. Cool! I hadn't killed it yet! Then one of the stalks got super long--almost as if it were injesting performance boosting steroids or something (because it certainly wasn't anything I'd done for this crazy plant!). Then poof! Yesterday, there were full fledged petals open facing the sun. Simply amazing!

I have a plant that has actually bloomed. And it's so pretty!

All I have to say is thank goodness kids are not like plants 'cause I'd need a much better instruction manual! ;)