I promised my daughter a picture of this aloe on the 1950s window-ledge in my office at the library. This plant was originally part of a gift a few years back from my daughter and son-in-law of three small succulents in three small ceramic pots, each different and each beautiful. Fast forward to the present and two of the three gift plants have expired, but the third one – the aloe – has tripled in size and become top-heavy, threatening to tip over in is tasteful miniature pot. (Already last summer I was writing
here about this looming problem.) This past weekend I appropriated a bigger ceramic pot from its generous owner's garage and then brought it to work along with some potting soil on Monday morning. Now the plant looks small again, in its new home. It has turned out to be one of those gifts that endures. I have gradually come to rely on its ever-present optimism.
