Green

Today I was shown something amazing. 

Bit of back story: In early 2018 I was doing an event at Yamabiko dome with the school, and the booth close by was selling 泥だんご studded with random seeds. You split it in half and planted the halves in two pots. The other pot has long since broken, but one survived and managed to sprout a great hulking thing that bloomed the loveliest purple and white flowers. I took the best care of it, watering it and speaking kind and encouraging words to help it grow. I would always rush to water it when I come back from holiday, often fearing when I left that it would be the last time I would see it alive and healthy. It always managed to pick up immediately after watering, and all would be well. I had a fairly emotional attachment to this plant. How could you not, when I celebrated each bloom, telling it nice things and telling the other buds that they were beautiful too?  

Earlier last month I managed to land myself in the hospital for a week. The one looking after me very kindly closed all my windows, which in turn created the perfect greenhouse for my plant. I got back to find it drooping and withered. I thought it would be like when I went on vacation, but this time it didn't seem to perk up after I'd watered it. 

And watered it and watered it. It wasn't bouncing back like it used to. You should have seen how awful it looked, it was brown and looked like straw. I didn't want to believe that it was dead. I asked around, hoping to find a way to bring it back. Some people said to transfer it to a bigger pot. Others told me to let it go and start over. 

Today, I had decided that I was going to let it go. Much like an unhealthy relationship that you just can't shake, I just had to accept that it wasn't serving me any longer and I just had to hold on to the happy memories. I even went out and bought myself a new flowering plant, one with bigger blooms and in a colour I loved. 

And just as I had finished repotting the new bloom, I went over to trash this plant when I saw this: 

I trimmed all the dead crap off it, but look what was growing underneath!!!!!

I was absolutely speechless. A month of half-assed watering and no kind words, and this plant decided to show me a miracle. I didn't even notice how much green was growing until I turned the pot around. You can see that it was dodging all the dried up branches over it and seeking the sun through it all. I immediately sat down with a pair of scissors and trimmed everything. I was ruthless, I wanted to do everything I could to protect these new sprouts. I also pried off the dried, crusted soil around the root ball to expose the moist earth underneath. I changed the soil completely and watered it until it stopped absorbing. I am going to do my fucking best to give these shoots the best chance at growing into something beautiful. 

I wonder if speaking kindly to it helped. I wonder if it knew how much I wanted it to be alive and to grow. I was very happy to cut off all the dead parts and toss them if it meant I could start over again. What a beautiful second chance I was given, and I determined not to muck it up. This has been a year of fresh starts after all. This plant knew, and it has renewed hope in me that there are better things yet ahead if I just cultivate my relationships and show kindness where I can. What a great reminder to keep going.