Sometimes, it just takes a sweet potato to make one happy. Make that a sweet potato, a few toothpicks, a jar, and some water.
One day last winter during a first-grade drop-off, I saw a meandering green vine at one of the activity tables (I took notice of this, of course, since we had been enduring months of grey, lifelessness of winter). I followed the vine, and found that it ended in a jar filled with water and a forest of tiny white roots.
The kids' class had started it during one of their projects. How simple, I thought, to grow something so beautiful. If the potato were to be planted underground, it would not have quite the same result. Sure it would produce more potatoes, good for the tummy. But to be able to see the roots and the shoots together – the whole plant growing – gives an entirely different benefit.
Seeing this plant gave me inexplicable joy. I left the classroom a bit fuller, happier, and made a note to self that I would start one at home, too.
Simply, what that plant did for me was it fed my soul. And sometimes, that is what one needs more than anything else.
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