Lessons From a Tomato Plant

it all started last summer...

May of 2017. It was a miracle. I had kept 3 house plants alive for months and was feeling like I had a green thumb. I decided that with the warmer weather, it was time for a patio plant. I went with a couple of friends to Fort Collins Nursery and purchased a cute "Patio Tomato" plant. 

You should know that for as long as I can remember,  I have had a love affair with tomatoes. I feel like if you hang out with me long enough (give it couple hours) you will know I love tomatoes.  Long live tomatoes and ketchup. My grandpa and mom are also huge tomato lovers. My fiancé, Alex, has given me tomatoes as a romantic gesture. Tomatoes are great..Okay so back to my plant, the patio tomato.  I potted my new friend,  placed it outside, and hoped for the best.

The tomato plant began to become an obsession (if you can't figure out why, go read the paragraph above again). Every time I went out to check on it, something was new. The leaves were bigger, the stem stronger. The little yellow flowers slowly turned to tiny grape-sized green tomatoes. 

As the tomatoes grew bigger, the leaves and other areas of the plant were impacted. I thought this was interesting. When change is happening in one area of our life, other areas also react and are changed.

​The plant was a reminder of how we can change a little every day. Sometimes one area of life can be going SO GREAT while another is kinds dried up and falling apart. This tomato plant was so metaphorical to what I was going through that summer. It calmed me.

the need for support:

As the tomatoes grew larger, the stem quickly could not support them on it's own. 

​I tried a mixture of things to support the ever changing tomato plant. A bungee chord, a wooden dowel, and finally two kabob skewers. 

Support is crucial. You can't live well without it. We need our family, friends, and community.

But...

As WE change, certain areas that we used to rely on, may no longer be needed. That type of support, is no longer helping the tomato plant flourish.

Wow. This was big for me.

Not every group or job or person or thing is going to be enough to support my new growth.
​
​It's okay to ask for more. It's okay to outgrow certain things as you grow into yourself.
​

the end of the summer taste test:

I may have shed a tear when I picked the first few ripe tomatoes. It was a beautiful moment. Yes I had Alex film it. Yes they were as perfect as I imagined.

I don't have much to say about eating my gorgeous tomatoes, besides that it felt incredible to eat something I GREW.  It was the tomato- lovers dream. Of course I made my absolute favorite, caprese. 

you thought the story was over, so did i...

IzI ate my delicious home grown tomato caprese in June 2017.  During my move the following month something cut through and ruined my last remaining tomato on the plant. I sadly left the dried up plant in the pot of soil on the porch and moved on with my life (I got engaged to the love of my life in September so I was easily distracted from tomato plants). 

Fall came and went and my house plant obsession grew thanks to having two large windows in our living room. Throughout the year I've used some left over soil from my porch pots to add some fresh dirt to my plants. One day in January I added some dirt to my spider plant and my new office jade plant using the same soil.

In early March, I noticed a strange plant growing out of my spider plant. I assumed it could be a weed or maybe a seed blew in. I decided to leave it and see what happened. A couple weeks later my office jade plant also began to grow a mysterious plant. I decided to wait for both to see what was growing...

Within two weeks, my jade plant's companion had grown into a HUGE thistle. Even though I was attached to the weed, I knew it couldn't stay if I wanted my jade plant to keep growing. I was bummed when the weed flowered because that's when my expert plant friends had said it would be time to pull. Sometimes removing an area that is no longer serving us is HARD, am I right?

But that little plant friend with my spider plant was growing much, much slower. I was hopeful. What was strange was that my spider plant was finally starting to grow and thrive. I hoped and prayed the mysterious plant wasn't a weed...

This picture is from March when I first noticed the little plant growing. See the blue box:

The day it became real:

As I watched the plant grow, it started to look familiar. The leaves, the stem, even the SMELL, was unique.

I thought it was a tomato plant.

In the middle of April I went with Alex and our friend Necho to the Fort Collins Nursery. I walked to where I knew the tomato plants were housed to do some investigating.

Sure enough, the leaves were a match. The stem had those little hairs. The fresh earthly smell was distinct...I held my plant's picture up in comparison and it was a perfect match. 

I called Alex and Necho over to confirm. With one look they both said it looked identical to my mysterious plant at home.

I'm not going to lie to you, I shed a tear right there in the nursery. I was overwhelmed with joy. My tomato plant, she was back!!! The plant that taught me so much last summer had returned. Wow.

My heart was/is overflowing. Realizing my random plant was actual the same plant that taught me so much last summer. Like the pheonix rose from the ashes, here she is, a whole year later. It was one of those moments that I knew was not coincidence, it was for me.  A moment that was too beautiful to not be something bigger. 

I left the tomato plant with my spider plant in hopes they would continue to grow together, which they both have.

so now what?

Now that my tomato plant has made it to the first week of June, my goal is to re-pot this babe and place her outside where I hope that she grows and flowers soon! What an exciting time... seriously though you know I will post all the updates. Okay so to conclude here are some of my thoughts processing the tomato plant reincarnation:

• Although I am constantly changing, I am still me. This tomato plant survived being transported to a new place, the transfer to a new pot, and grew with new companions. With all the changes happening in my life both incredible and not so much, I am still the same person. I am still me. You are still you. 
• Don't get so busy you forget to look for the little things. I never thought that a tomato plant would teach me so much and would mean so much to me. I believe because I was open and listening I was given this gift from above. A plant, a silly little tomato plant, has deeply impacted my spirit.
• Share your story. What's your tomato plant? My hope of sharing this story is to inspire you to talk about your "tomato plant". I have loved hearing my friend's talk about their moments and things that spoke to them. Those little moments that were made just for your heart. Those things that just can't be coincidences. I encourage you to share your joys with your friends and family, it's good to share chapters of your journey, both good and bad, with others. 

Well, there ya have it! My first personal blog post. Seems only fitting it's about tomatoes.