NJR DIGITAL NOVEMBER 2022 MAGAZINE

SHOCK
OF
CHANGE
I have a special
talent for
killing plants.
My husband
calls it “the
touch of
death.” For
this reason, I
typically avoid
messing with
any of the
greenery in
our home.
However, a recent
discovery of a lovely white
planter made me brave
enough to try.
I found it shoved in a dark
corner in one of the kitchen
cabinets. Pristine and
porcelain, the planter was
obviously made for display.
It seemed a waste to keep
it out of sight and out of
use. Surely there was a
plant this vase was made
for…I eyeballed the peace
lily that has been happily
thriving beside the kitchen
sink since Easter. The
crinkled wrapper it came in
is well worn out and faded.
It would be an instant
upgrade to swap the old
wrapper for the new. I’m
not supposed to touch the
plants, but this change
seemed completely
harmless, so I carefully
removed the peace lily
from its grocery store
trappings and gently
redeposited it into the
planter. Perfect.
I was proud of myself.
Until it wilted. And not a
little wilted…but a lot
wilted. Like, Looked dead,
wilted.
“The plant-killer strikes
again!” my husband joked,
but I felt like crying.
Literally, all I did was pick
the thing up out of an old
wrapper and put it in a
different pot. I didn’t
change the soil, touch the
roots, or even water it. But
less than 24 hours later,
the poor plant was hanging
over the edge of its new
container just as limp and
listless as if I’d poisoned it.
Apparently, change is just
as hard on plants as it is on
people.
This year has been fraught
with change. In the spring,
my husband and I sold the
home we loved and prayed
for most, after spending
nearly three years trying to
renovate it so we could live
in it again. Shortly
thereafter, my husband
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