Thursday, September 2, 2010

Therapists Make Good Plant Killers

After being away from the world of blog for so long now, I would expect this post to have all kinds of deep and heartfelt thoughts oozing all over the page.

I would be wrong.

But in the midst of an incredibly busy week at work, accompanied by many hours of overtime, there was a moment of funny that had me giggling pretty good.

Last fall, someone dropped off a cute but scraggly-looking plant at our office.  It was housed in a cheap pink plastic thing with a capacity for only a handful of dirt.  The plant was of the viney nature.  We sat it by a window and cared for it all winter.  Every few days, when the leaves would start to turn yellow and fall off, we'd notice it was getting a little thirsty.  So we'd splash it under the sink and watch it perk up again for a few more hours.

This little plant had gusto.  It would grow leaves and by now would probably look like a full, long, leafy viney thing if we'd have watered it often enough to keep the leaves from falling off.  Instead, it always had about five or six inches of vine, and two or three leaves at the end of each vine.  Sad, but cute.

One unfortunate day a few weeks ago, I saw this little plant resting in one of the trash cans.  I made no small noise about the atrocity of this discovery.

"Who threw our plant away???"

One of the gals 'fessed up.  "I did.  Just look at it.  It looks awful and it's half-dead and should've been thrown out a long time ago."

Well...true...but still.  It wasn't completely dead.  Yet.

I didn't want to take it home, but knew it's fate was sealed if it stayed in therapy any longer.  So I walked it across the hall to home health and asked if they wanted a plant.

Turns out they're the ones who gave it to us in the first place.

So I took it to the cafeteria to join the forest of huge exotic overgrown plants that sit around the room.  I figured the little guy could at least make some friends and be watered on a regular basis.  I sat him next to two other extra large potted specimens.  Together, the three looked kinda like two elephants and a mouse.

I forgot about the plant until earlier this week, when I was eating lunch and happened to glance at the floor by the window where he was sitting.

Apparently, everyone else agreed with my co-workers that the plant was not worth saving.  I was the only one who cared.  This is what I saw:


Poor little guy.

1 comment:

DeMo said...

Oh man. That's so sad! I kind of want to adopt it. I inherited a plant from a co-worker that was very miserable when I first got it. It took lots of regular watering and TLC (I will not deny talking to the plant) and now it's thriving. Before it started looking great, my mom was in my office after-hours and I came in the next day to see a note that said "Throw me away." I refused and now have a happy plant! I hope that yours finds its groove.

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