In April of 1975, I moved my office to Jollyville, which was once a small town near Austin. One of my valued vendors came in one day with a small potted arrangement of plants, which contained a tiny shefflera.
Most of the plants were not destined to survive, but the little shefflera hung on, and has moved with me through careers and offices until today, when I still call it my "bonsai shefflera".
Twenty-five years before this one was born, I would climb in a much larger one on the property of Mr. & Mrs. Peterson's apartment house in Kaimuki, which at that long ago time, was near the outskirts of Honolulu.
When Todd and Lauren moved down from Asheville with the baby, they had to find jobs. Very soon after they arrived, Todd came in and announced that he thought he had a job with a company called Burks' Reprographics, which coincidentally, was the very same vendor who had given me this plant, 32 years previously. I was very pleasantly surprised, because Burks' had always treated me well, and I'm sure it would be a great place to work.
It was almost a month before Burks' finally called and told him to come in, but now he's a valued employee.
Life goes on, and the shefflera marks the years.
2 comments:
Nice story, Willy.
That's amazing, Willie, that a house plant could live that long. I see why you call it your bonzai scheffaleria. Actually, I didn't know that they grew to such size as you mentioned. Wow, the things one can learn by reading blogs. ;-)
Btw, nice to meet you. Love your blog and your stories & ramblings. I followed you here from flickr. So glad you enjoy flickr - I do too. Look me up sometime at user name: Lynn (aka cammi)
Ciao!
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