I am horrible with plants. That's all there is to it. Earlier this year, I bought this really cool plant that had spiraled leaves with red in them. It was the coolest looking plant ever, and I was determined to keep it alive. It has been sitting out on our balcony, dead, for about 6 months.

But I am trying again. Last week when we met with the nurse managers from Hendrick, everyone who came was given a little plant with a tag around it saying, "Come grow with us." Hendrick's method of recruiting, I suppose. Anyway, as I carefully perused the plant selection, I looked for the one that seemed to be the most low-maintenance, yet not hideous. I finally picked one that claimed to require "low light" (I think the previous plant died of darkness...oops). So it's been almost a week now, and my little plant is still alive. Hooray! Not only that, it seems to be sprouting new little leaflets! I got really excited about this fact, and decided to look my plant up on the internet. It's called a Philodendron cordatum. Turns out, this plant pretty much won't die. I read all these blurbs from people who have enough time to post comments about their plants on websites to be read by other plant junkies, and discovered that some people have had their plants for over 30 years. Holy cow. And, this particular plant is a vine, and if given ample space, will grow insanely tall with huge leaves. One person said theirs grew from floor to celing and back to the floor. Hmmm...not so sure about that.

Anyway, as you can tell, I am quite excited at the the prospect of having a living thing under my care that might actually stay alive. (A scary comment to be coming from someone who is about to become a nurse...) And, seeing as there is long-term potential for my relationship with this plant, I feel like I should give it a name. Hmm...I think I will call him Stanley (he is a boy plant, I have decided). Yes, that fits quite nicely. Stanley it is.