The Love Fern

One of my very favorite movies is How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. I love this delightfully funny chick flick.
My daughter and I have watched it many times....in fact, too many times to count. My husband on the other hand, is too macho for chick flicks, but it seems he has paid attention (while walking into the room) of various scenes in the movie, scenes I deem my favorite.
One such scene is when Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) arrives at Bennie's (Matthew McConaughey) apartment with a box of personal items to invade on his personal space. If you have not seen the movie, this is one of Andie's plots to "lose" the new boyfriend. One of the items she brings is a Boston fern and quickly coins it as their love fern. I love this scene. It always sparks a laugh and it seems my dear husband remembered that as well.

The beginning of the summer, I usually buy a Boston fern for my front porch, for some reason, this year I did not buy one. I kept meaning to, just never did.
One day, my husband came home from the store with a large fern and hung it in a tree in our backyard while I was not home, as a surprise.
Why? That is easy, it is simply because he loves me.

When I noticed the beautiful fern hanging in the back yard, he jokingly referred to it as my love fern. See, he was paying attention to my favorite movie, even if it was short segments of it. Macho guys need to know that chick flicks are entertaining, and it's OK to watch them from time to time.

Well, as luck would have it, this summer started out exceptionally windy here in Texas. Along with the high winds, and heat, it takes its tole on hanging plants. My work hours were such that I was not home in the evenings. I would water my fern in the mornings, and consequently, my husband was trying his darnedest to keep it alive by watering it in the evening as well. The result was this....
Too much water, high winds and heat, did it's number on the Love Fern. As the edges curled up and browned, I would water it more thinking it was super dry, my husband did the same thing. This was the results.



By the time I realized what was happening, it was really too late. My Love Fern died. But still today in the tree hangs my dead Love Fern.



Now, believe it or not, I did not throw a fit, nor did I cry like Andie Anderson did, accusing Bennie of killing their love fern, and their love.
I did however, leave it in the tree as a reminder of the love my husband has for me. You see it was not neglect that killed it, but love. Somehow, that warms my heart.
Just like the end of the movie, when Bennie whisks Andie away on the back of his motorcycle, and you guessed it, the Love Fern was on the back of the motorcycle in a basket. It too survived.

And Guess What?? We had a really much needed rain last week here in Texas, and would you take a close look at what I discovered.....
Look closely, the green leaves are there!



Green leaves peeking out of the dead ones. Just like the love we share, it's not that easy to kill it. It will always surface even in the most adverse conditions. After 20 plus years of marriage, I think that is pretty good. Today, I feel really lucky and blessed to have someone in my life who cares about me and finds little ways to show it.
Even if it means killing a perfectly good plant to get the job done.
~Good Stuff