The Jade Plant

I purchased a small jade plant when I went away to college in 1972. It was just a few sprouts at the time. I put the small plant in my dorm window along with some photo's and other stuff. That little plant survived that first year and then each year thereafter. Moving from dorm to dorm and eventually to apartment to apartment. Growing all along the way, traveling with me wherever I went. The little jade traveled from Ashland, Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio. From Cincinnati to Morehead and Berea Kentucky. Then made the trip over the Smokey mountains to Knoxville, Tennessee and on to Chattanooga. Then settling in Atlanta, Georgia only to move from apartment to house and onto another house. Whew! Still alive and growing during all it's travels. Later on traveling to Lexington and Georgetown, Kentucky before moving to Richmond, Virginia and finally settling over the last six years in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Who would have ever believed that the same little jade plant would be with me longer than my husband and children! This summer it's living outside in the yard -- to receive some much needed sunshine and rain. You see over the many years it's given itself to others all along the way. I've taken cuttings and started small plants that I've given to friends and neighbors in each community I've lived. So this little jade plants legacy lives on in other homes across the country.

I don't know how much longer the jade will live, but I know as long as I'm able and it's willing we will continue on life's journey together. Sharing with everyone we meet!