I am so horribly bad at keeping plants alive. Seriously. Dane and I watched "Meet Joe Black" the other day, and I was thinking that I am like a "Jane Black" for plants (but I'm married to the Green Giant).
However, I am so incredibly proud to announce that the pot of dirt which has been sitting on the front patio for like....2 months now, has finally begun to spout little green things!
One of my students gave me the pot of dirt and packet of lavender seeds at the end of the school year, and I never actually expected anything to happen to it, knowing my history with plants.
(Case in point: the nice elderly woman who lives in the townhouse next to us, Wilma, gave us a beautiful flowering plant when we returned from our honeymoon about two weeks ago. Now, despite my tender care and watering, it has become a Tim Burton version of itself. I feel kind of embarrassed to keep it out there where she can see it, but I tell myself that the fact that:
A. We own a watering can and keep it out front in plain sight, so obviously we are concerned plant citizens.
B. I often take care to set it next to the formerly flowering plant as if to say, "See? I take this plant's need for sustenance seriously!"
C. I conspicuously look around before picking up that watering can and take my time watering it, with the look of someone who often waters plants. I happen to know that Wilma watches us from the window so I feel okay-just barely-about keeping the dead-ish plant out there...as long as I continue to do A.B.C)
Anyway, it's strangely thrilling to see the little green things come out of the pot of dirt. Even through I didn't trust myself to make anything grow, I just kept watering it. (I think Dane's been watering too, which may actually be why it's growing, but that's not really the point, the point's that I was making an honest attempt). Then, one day, little green things were coming out of it! And they weren't little green worms! I have Googled baby lavender and it actually sort of looks right, too!
( Side note: don't you love how "Googled" has become a verb?)
On that pot of dirt is written, in a kid's messy paint-scrawl" "Teachers Grow Kids" and there are also the handprints, in bright colors, of the kid (Let's call him....Thistle)
Now Thistle is neither a smiling, eager- to-learn sort, nor is he from the stock of scary-to-teach-but- loveable Tom Sawyer types. He's kind of a little loner: he's small for his age and he tries to be a bully. He isolates himself from others on purpose (not quite good enough at it yet to seem really, truly tough). The school where he is has been good for him, but he's got a long way ahead to a happy, truly fulfilling group of friends. I want that for him.
I wasn't too surprised to get a gift from Thistle, because his mom is very consistently thoughtful about gift-giving to teachers. However, I realized, when I got the pot, that Thistle's mom didn't write the words, he did. And those definitely weren't her handprints. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the thing was her idea (or she got it off Pinterest), but I realized that he had to have wanted some part in that gift to willingly contribute his hands and writing, and that made it mean something to me.
To be honest, had it just been something that Thistle's mom obviously did on her own, I very much doubt I would have cared enough to read about the kind of light that lavender needs, or make sure it had enough water. But I kept checking on it, tending to it, despite my own little faith.
And it grew.
I'm not going to pretend that growing lavender from seeds is hard or anything, but it's hard for me, mostly because I start out pre-discouraged when I see a potted plant. As it turns out, consistency and faith were the keys I needed.
It made me think: "Teachers Grow Kids." I'm new to the whole education thing, but I had to think that there are some similarities between the need for faith and consistency in growing baby lavender and the need for encouragement and structure in "growing kids" in the classroom setting.
In fact, this can be applied all around the board with other things that have a tendency to be challenging or daunting. For me, here's the short-list: sticking to writing deadlines, computers, low-carb diets, being organized, having self-control when it comes to gummy vitamins, attempting to be outgoing....and finishing, well, almost anything.
Take a minute to think: what endeavors do you avoid because you lack the faith, or perhaps the will to at least make an honest attempt? What would it take to motivate you? Are you willing to take a little time out of your day to be consistent in something, and what would that look like, practically?
(This isn't rhetorical: I'd really love to hear and to discuss!)
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