For as long as I could remember, I could never, ever keep a plant alive. It could be as simple as a succulent that only needed to be watered once or twice a week and I still couldn’t keep it alive. That is until I received my firstborn, a small aloe plant named Coco (I picked the name, of course).
Laugh all you want. Naming objects is just all a part of the game until you become attached to them. That’s exactly what happened with Coco and me. Once I placed her on my vanity practically directly in the sun, I knew that I had to keep this plant alive in order to prove everyone wrong.
This mission of mine almost seemed like an “I told you so” to my parents. Partially, it was. I wanted to prove to them that if I could keep Coco alive, I could keep another plant alive as well; me.
The metaphor might stretch a bit as it seems that I am comparing myself to an aloe plant but hear me out. We all start off as little beans in our mother’s womb. Then we grow, and grow, and grow, and grow some more. Just like a plant. We thrive off of nutrients and sunlight. Plants like to be talked to just like humans like to communicate with others. Are you picking up what I’m putting down?
This plant acted as a token of independence for me. It symbolized that if I was able to keep it alive and thrive on the care that I was providing, I could do the same for myself. As a freshman this year, my college experience got ripped away from me just like everyone else. It took a lot of convincing to show my parents that I was ready to live in an apartment on my own for next year and this plant was the stepping stone.
It’s easy to place a plant on a counter and forget that it even existed. But, if you take care of that plant and watch it grow, it can become a magical thing. The reason why I believe that being a plant mom is so important is that it’s a chance to prove something to yourself. Never in a million years would I think that I could keep a plant alive for this long (I’m going on 2 years now) but I’m doing it. I have since grown my little family and bought a Jade plant named Guccio. Are you noticing the names? Coco, the Aloe plant, for Coco Chanel, and Guccio, the Jade plant, for Guccio Gucci.
Trust me, I am no perfect plant mom. There have been times where I almost lost one of my children but I always seem to bring them back to being lively and thriving. Most of us are going to make mistakes, it’s just human nature. But it’s how you come back from your mistakes that is so important.
So, are you going to become a plant parent or what?