Mom had a fantastic Green Thumb. I used to say you give that woman a broken broom handle and she would get it flowering in a month. Back in Venezuela she used to grow and keep Cattleyas and it was not unusual for her to get over a hundred flowers every May.

Of course, she got too old for such intensive love labor and other than her parsley, basil, culantro and an eternal failing fight with a couple of tomato plants, she downsized to a single orchid plant bought many years ago in Home Depot if memory serves right. Even at the hospital on her last days, she told me to take care of her plants, specially her orchid.

After she died, I have been keeping an eye on her plants and making sure they do not die (It seems I  am cursed with a somewhat green thumb myself, but I never cared much for gardening) doing the watering and fertilizing thing. When I stepped out on our porch just minutes ago, I saw her orchid had finally bloomed and yes, I got a bit teary.

Mom’s last orchid.