I am a total plant person.

What exactly does this mean, many may ask? It’s not as deep as you think. It literally means I just like plants. All kinds of plants. Flowers, shrubs, herbs, trees, cactus, weeds, they all have a special place in my heart.

Henry Ward Beecher said it best: “Flowers are the sweetest things God has ever made and forgot to put a soul into.”

To me, flowers represent life, joy, love, hope, devotion, forgiveness, sunshine, and renewal, and not only look pretty, but smell pretty. Two for the price of one!

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I’ve always been what my parents lovingly call a “tree hugger”, and used to run from tree to tree in our backyard and actually wrap my arms around the trunk before shimmying up to the tallest limbs.

My grandma and I have grown a vegetable garden since before I can remember, and pride ourselves on producing ginormous cucumbers, juicy tomatoes, and even a pumpkin vine.

For my birthday and Christmas, I asked for houseplants. I am the proud caretaker of a pair of cacti, a Bonsai tree, two succulents smaller than a teacup, a “goldfish” tropical plant (just Google it), an Orchid, and a pair of Venus flytraps. I am very proud of my plants, but even more proud that I can truly keep them alive. I have a tendency to forget about this thing called water until shriveling, falling brown leaves remind me.

The way to my heart is a good bouquet of flowers, and by good, I mean quite literally any flower. It can be from the side of the road right next to my house, and I would still swoon and measure my vase sizes.

Sure, the flower bouquets don’t last a lifetime, but my plants remind me that we are in a cycle of life and death (okay, maybe my being a “plant person” is a little deep..)

We sacrifice ourselves to the dirt, in which the very flowers we clasp with tight fingers in our coffin, sacrificed themselves for us. We’re part of the cycle, no matter what you believe.

My goodness, that took a morbid turn faster than I thought. This post isn’t about death, or dying I swear, I know I have children viewers!!

The overall point that I am trying to make is that I am content in this moment, happily surrounded by life-bringing/life-taking plants.

With love,

M. Rheinheimer