One Year.

This month marks the one year anniversary of our move to California! I can't believe it's been a year. To think somehow we've made it out here that long. We had a gut feeling that it would work when we first moved, but guts can be hard to read. I'm very happy that our first notion appears to have been right, and one way or another we're still together in one place. And it happens to be a place we love. Home to me is a feeling, one that I haven't experienced everywhere we've lived. But here we feel home. And sweet it is.

So, to commemorate our year, I wanted to tell you about our plant. This plant was given to us by the neighbor of our first apartment here (we've lived in 3 places in the last year--remember Santa Monica?) It was a studio apartment we were subletting for a month, where there was little to no privacy and very thin walls. Short story goes, I was being too loud one morning while exercising, and this neighbor came up and complained. I was peeved at first, then gave her cookies to apologize, and she gave us this plant in return with a little note telling us the Santa Monica Pier's 100th anniversary celebration was that night and we might want to go check out the fireworks. We did. It was lots of fun.


Well, although it was a lovely gesture, I did not expect much from this plant. Nothing about this plant said hearty to me, and hearty is what it has to be if it's going to survive under my watch, as history will tell you. But nevertheless, the thing survived through our stay in Santa Monica, we took it with us when we moved to our hotel room in Brea, where even more surprisingly, it kept growing. There was one window in that whole place, and this plant, I'm certain, was placed nowhere near it. But sunshine or not, it found a way to keep ticking. So sure enough, 6 months later, when we were thrilled to move to an actual apartment, we carted it with us again and gave it a place of honor by the kitchen window. By this time I was catching on that this was no ordinary plant. This one was a bit of a fighter, and I thought it earned a spot to be admired.

So here we are today, a little over 6 months later, and that photo, taken this morning, is of the lovely plant to which this post is dedicated. When we got it, the whole thing was maybe two or three of those short leaves, and I don't know, it's grown so much maybe we'll have to give it a new pot soon. On Sunday it caught my attention again, this plant. It has brown on some of its edges, it looks worn in places, but it is still going. For me, Sunday was one of those days, where I was worn, and tired, and it was all I could do to get myself to church that morning. I suddenly became very grateful for this little reminder in my kitchen of persistence and strength. There have been many joys and blessings, but this year has not been easy by any means, as this little plant will tell you. One way or another, it has made it and so have we. For this, I am very, very grateful.

So, a toast (as we did our first night in California) to the future and all the adventures it holds. Cheers!