Old Friends And New

We know that friends can take many forms. Friends don't have to be other people as our dogs and cats have all proven. But, can a plant be a friend?

Forty five years ago (yes I am that old) I had surgery. While I was recovering a friend brought me a spindly little Christmas cactus in a 4inch pot. It didn't have a flower and didn't look like it ever would amount to much, but I replanted it in a pretty pot and found it a bright window. I remembered to water it weekly and it started to grow. It outgrew several pots and continued to grow. It pushed out flowers starting in October and continuing thru May and at times was completely covered in bright red flowers. 

 It moved with me from Central New York to Pennsylvania and to Maryland. When we moved to Missouri it shared the back of the Trooper with six birds and three dogs. That was quite a trip thru snowstorms and ice storms, but we all made it and the cactus found a cool bright place to live in the dining room beside the birds.That cactus went thru lots of life events with me. It witnessed good times and bad times. If it could talk it would have plenty to say. It just sat there in it's spot and when the right time came it flowered. It was something I could depend on. Does that qualify it as a friend?

Last year I commented to Rob that the cactus wasn't putting out as many flowers as it had in the past. It only had about six flowers all season and they were small. Also it's branches were getting thick and woody. Over the summer the heavy branches began breaking. It was starting to look really sad and that made me feel sad. A couple times I thought about ending it's life but I kept putting it off. Finally I told Rob that I thought my cactus was finished but that I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. He agreed that it didn't look healthy. One morning last month I got up and the cactus was gone. Rob had taken care of it. I didn't ask what he had done or where he had put it. I didn't want the details.

I felt like I had lost an old friend. I felt depressed for a couple weeks and felt close to tears a few times. Is that silly? I don't know. I considered that cactus an old friend that was dependable. Why wouldn't I feel sad?

So what did I do? I looked around at local garden shops but there were no Christmas cactus yet. Then I discovered that Amazon delivers live plants and they had Christmas cactus. I ordered two and waited anxiously for them to arrive. They came in perfect condition and have taken up residence in the same window that the big old girl lived in. I had no idea what color blooms they would have, but I do now. Over the past month one of the new little plants got two buds.  

Over the last week they have been opening.

 

 

                              

Today I woke up to two perfect pink flowers.

So now I have a couple new friends to share my days with. Don't you love a happy ending?