photo by James Cummings

The “Christmas Cactus” you see here, doesn’t know how to tell time. You see, it blooms at least twice a year, with huge pink blossoms that delight everyone who views it. This picture of it was taken several years ago and the plant has grown even more huge, in the meantime. Why am I showing this to you now? Well, as always, there is a story, and a lesson to be learned.

I call this plant, “Myrtie’s Cactus.” One single segment of another plant was all that was needed to create this one. Let me tell you about an incident. My mother was a patient at a nursing home. After having had a single room during the first part of her care there, she graduated to another room, with a roommate. One day, when I was visiting her, an aide had just brought in a lovely cactus plant for my mother’s roommate, Myrtle. In so doing, she brushed the plant against something, perhaps the doorway, and a segment fell to the ground. Mother said, “Pick that up, Patty, and bring it home. I’m sure you can root it and grow another plant.”

Well, I had started plants before from “slips” of other plants, but never from one tiny segment of a plant. I doubted that I could root it, but I thought I’d try. You can see the result!

Sometimes when life seems most hopeless, and it seems impossible to succeed at a given task, we can surprise ourselves, if we only take a “can do” attitude. Of course, without water and soil and sun and the will of the Great Unknown, the plant segment would not have grown and bloomed again and again.

Isn’t it great when we have someone who believes in us? Sometimes, the vision of our potential, as seen through the eyes of others, is a real impetus to helping us reach our own goals. Luckily, I have had many mentors in my life. My first mentor, in needlework, was my own mother.

I smile when I see this cactus. It is growing unwieldy like a child who has gotten too tall for his pants. To me, the plant represents the continuation of life, against all odds, and I am grateful for the lesson.

Patricia Cummings

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 14th, 2007 at 2:41 am and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.