Grandma and Grandpa

My maternal grandparents passed away about 18 months apart. My grandfather while I was in Germany the summer of 1990 and my grandmother, the fall of my freshman year of college, October 1991.

They were known and respected in the community and I remember there being a fair number of people at the calling hours as well as friends of my aunt and my mother. Lots of flowers. My grandparents gardened and everyone knew they liked flowers.

Some people gave planters for both funerals.

To say my mother has a black thumb is to be very generous. She tries, but I have seen more poor plants at her house. After the funerals she had an influx of plants. Some of them slowly went back to school with me.

So that is how I ended up with the palms, which H and I have dubbed "Grandma" and "Grandpa." I have nurtured these plant until they are taller than H, mind you they were small table top plants when we got them.

I had them in my apartment in college. My roommate/BFF and I dressed one up for Hanuka one year (our very own Hanuka bush.) I lent one to H, when he first moved to Columbus, while we were dating, so that he could green up his apartment.

While this is a story in and of itself, the real story is, well they are sprouting... seriously. I noticed it the other morning while I was enjoying my tea on the back porch. (It is important to note, that Grandma and Grandpa spend the summer on the deck and the winter in the basement by a sunny winter, because they are too tall for any other room, beside my attic office and well H is a strapping lad, but there is an extent to just how far he can carry these trees.)

At first I thought it was an insect on the trunk, and then I thought maybe the bark was peeling, the bump was curious. Then I noticed, something was growing out of the bump and sure enough, both Grandma and Grandpa had bumps and they are both sprouting, a branch. Actually Grandma is sprouting in more than one place.

My plants have been steadily growing, each year getting taller and now they are getting wider and taking on a new direction. It is exciting. Just like life takes a new direction from time, so our my plants. Sometimes we all go out on a limb, and apparently my trees of remembrance are also going out on a limb - or rather are growing a limb.