Pot Plant / Lockdown Day 484

In December 2007, I started my two-week orientation for my new job at Eurocentres Cape Town, an English language school that was part of an international franchise. On my first day, one of my colleagues welcomed me with a pot plant. It was small and cute, and in a pottery container. It stayed on my desk until I left the job, in October 2010.  

I brought it home and put it outside, close to our door. It had become an outdoor plant, but still in its original pot. For years and years, I watered it, removed its old leaves and always felt excited when I saw a new leaf appearing. I have no idea what its name is - I should find out.    

A few years ago, I transferred it to a bigger pot and was fascinated by how quickly it started behaving like a bigger plant, growing impressively. But still I just kept on watering it, removing the old leaves and watching the new ones appear. 

It was only last year, during the first few months of lockdown, when gardening became one of the things we did more often, to stay sane, that I decided to transfer it to an even bigger pot, and to remove it from close to my door to the other pots in the garden.. 

You should see it now. I'm sure I have a picture somewhere, but I really should take a new one, because it's grown beyond my expectations.

That plant would always have looked like a tiny desk plant, if I'd left it in its original container. When I gave it more space, it flexed itself and showed me what it could be, in its new container. And now that it's in an even bigger pot, with deeper soil for its roots to flourish, it's growing like I would not have believed possible. 

I think we owe it to ourselves to change our contexts, every now and then, to see what we're capable of when given more space.