Almost every household has one or two plants. Most people like to grow them as a way of making the house seem home-ish and a way of cleaning up the air. Since I was a kid, I always saw plants as nothing more then either a plaything or an annoying and bug-attracting nuisance – until I recently discovered that my thumb was green too.

When I was a toddler, my mom was a plant lover – and still is. For as long as I can remember, she had so many plants in the house, I felt like I needed a machete to get from room to room. So when you are a child and you live in a house full of plants – they are only good for one thing – to help you play. A story that my mother loves to tell everyone is what I did to one of her plants when I was a child. I was I think two and I was swinging one of her plants that she had hung from the ceiling – I wound up swinging it so hard that it came off the hook and covered the living room in dirt – so I ran into the bedroom where she was, grabbed her by the face and said, “I love you mommy – don’t go in the living room, ok? I love you.” – and they say I wasn’t a smart kid.

When I got old enough to help clean the house rather then mess it up, my mom’s plants went from being playthings to becoming an annoyance every Saturday, because Saturday was “Water The Plants Day”. I didn’t mind helping out mom – but she had well over two dozen plants. Some were small – and some were so big I could climb them. So simply watering the plants took a good hour – and to a kid – that’s a long time.

So when I lived on my own, I never had plants. I thought I was free of the jungle – then I moved in with Sandy.

Sandy has apparently picked up where my mom has left off. She too has a desire to live in a home that resembles the Amazon. And, like my mother, her plants range in size from a small pot with a stem in it to a plant that is so large and heavy – we needed my friend Duke who is a wrestler to bring it here when we moved in.

At first her plants were like my mother’s – annoying – until one day when she asked me to help her re-pot a few of her plants.

We went to Pergament and picked up the supplies she needed. While there, I wanted to try my hand a growing something. Considering the fact that the only thing I ever tried to grow was a beard – and that didn’t even come out right – I really had no experience and figured it was time to try. So I picked up a packet of Basil seeds and a small pot. When we came home, I helped her re-pot her plants and potted my seeds.

Now, a month later, my seeds are a full grown Basil plant. To Sandy and most everyone else, that result is an expected given – but to me – that’s amazing. I think its incredible that what was once a couple of seeds is now growing so big – that it’s now my turn to re-pot.

This feeble attempt at nature has even sprouted – pardon the pun – to my office. About a month ago, I saw someone selling small plants at a makeshift Farmer’s Market by my building, so I bought a plant for two bucks and brought it upstairs to my office. To both my and everyone else’s surprise – it has grown three times its size since I bought it. Even people in the office who have their own version of the Amazon have complimented me on my progress. Ok, so maybe plants are not that bad after all…

And that’s one to grow on.