Taken during my trip to Cebu City

A plant will never mess on your rugs.

When we moved in to our home in September 2011, I got unbelievably busy with so many things. Attika just turned three-months old; Cole was still attending regular school then; hubby had an important job to take care of; and I had an entire house to unpack. I wasn’t doing everything on my own but OCness is not something you just can shrug off, so I was carefully arranging and rearranging things (and sometimes repeating the entire routine when "something looked like it was in the wrong place") to the amazement of my (superwoman) friend Christie who was visiting at that time. 

I couldn’t get any luckier. I had a fairy godmother staying with us and showering my kids a lot of love. But it was me, really, who needed her more than anyone else. I needed her to be there to laugh with from the time we'd wake up in the morning until we'd fall asleep late at night. With her around everything seemed funny. Now thinking about it, Christie’s the reason why I never had to suffer from postpartum blues. 

So while all that love was being passed around in our household, our plants were out in the verandas suffering from brutal neglect by yours truly. Not that I intentionally did that but for weeks I completely forgot that besides my little one, there were others waiting for me to feed them, too. They all looked withered and  their leaves were starting to fall out. Some of them were on the verge of dying, some looked weather-beaten, all of them looked thirsty and hungry, some of them looked…sad. I was panic-stricken when I saw what I’ve done (or haven’t done) for them. I promised them my White Dwarfs, Snow White, and all the living things we owned that I’d start feeding them regularly and that I’d talk to them more often than I should. 

Another friend of mine, Anna, left me with two boxes of books before she left for Canada. One of the treasures in that collection is Lynn and Joel Rapp’s “Mother Earth’s Hassle-Free Indoor Plant Book” published in 1973. I love the old book dearly because it was written for dummies like me who love plants but don’t know how to grow them. It’s so comprehensive and a fun read, too. 

I’m sharing with you the Rapps’ reasons why you should become emotionally involved with your plants.

A plant will make you happy.

A plant will beautify your home.
A plant will freshen the air.

A plant will make a friend feel good.

A plant will never talk back to you.

A plant will never mess on your rugs.

A plant will love you if you water it.

A plant will give you something to talk about.

And best of all—You don’t have to walk a Begonia!

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