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grandma flower

Those were some very happy years.

I had developed a sister like friend at work. We worked so well with each other, maybe extreme programming was designed after us. Any programming problem thrown at us, we could solve in no time - if left alone. We were inseparable. People used to joke that we are married.

We used to go on walks at lunch time. Sometimes we will pick up hummus and olive tapenade and crusty bread from Trader Joes and have a picnic lunch at our desk. Sometimes we would sneak a glass of wine at lunch and come back all giggly and trying to be serious. Thursday in summers were Farmers market days - and you had to plan to be there early if you wanted the fougasse bread from the baker. He used to always run out by noon. Happy times.

One day she walked in with a small segment of a plant - she put it in a paper cup with water on my desk. This was taken from her grand mother's plant. She loved her grandma more than life itself. Unfortunately, grandma had passed away.

I was so honored that she would share this with me.

I nurtured this plant and it grew under my care. But those were also the years of young kids, and karate lessons, ice skating lessons, flute lessons, guitar lessons, horse riding lessons, theater rehearsals, voice lessons, science projects, debate clubs, book reports, and on and on and on. Our two kids somehow had jam packed 15 activities in a 7 day week. We were always running around.

One day I realized that the plant was almost dead. I wasn't sure how I will ever tell her. I cut out most of the plant, and hoped it would come back somehow. I also promised the plant that if she came back, I will never ignore her again.Call me crazy, but I distinctly remember talking to this plant, willing it to live.


And she listened and gave me a second chance.



She came back with a magenta smile that brightens my holiday season every year.










And I always think of the grandma that I never had a chance to meet. The grandma who was loved dearly by the person that I love dearly,

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