Joy

There are many joys in anyone’s life. The largesse of family.  The

warmth and outreach of friends. A new baby’s gurgling laugh. The unintelligible chatter and fanciful busyness of a toddler. Trees that sway in the wind. The roll and frothing curl of the ocean’s wave. The soaring flight of a flock of geese or the dip and swerve of a flock of swallows.

Another joy not so obvious or grand is the new tiny new leaves a plant. When I returned home yesterday, I felt this tiny burst of joy. My Jade plant was threatened, by me, a couple of months ago. Sternly, I looked it square in its shrivelled, grey leaves and said: ‘Live and grow or join grass clippings on the compost heap’. I have been known to kill many a Jade plant, aloe plant or any other plant that is ‘easy’ to grow. Taking a risk, I poured an entire half cup of water on it. Soon its leaves began to fill out and turn from grey to green.

My tiny burst of joy yesterday? Tiny budding leaves peeking out on my thick and succulent Jade plant. They really are easy to grow! Let them be, water them sparingly and tell them they are truly a joy.

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

~ John Keats, Endymion: A Poetic Romance