Sometimes God works in funny ways. I was feeling worried about my FAS daughter and went into a greenhouse to buy myself a plant (healthier than eating chocolates). The MANAGER, a nice chatty lady, helped me choose a plant and I asked her how one got a job in a greenhouse. (Did you have to attend college? How did you learn all about plants?) She told me that she had learning difficulties because her mom was an alcoholic, had left her in bars continually as a young child and had died of alcoholism. (At this point I realized she had FAS facial features and was very short.) Through perservation she found a job where she could work outside, so she could talk a lot to herself, and not have to spell or do mathematics. She stated she learned the plants' requirements like she was learning gossip about them....not through boring memorization. Her plants also like the fact that she talks a lot. She tells the owner how many plants they sell each week and he helps her order more. She said she learned to drive at an older age and was married. She appeared to be around 30, and seemed to be quite happy.

Now every time I tend to my special plant, I think of the Plant Lady, and I am reminded that maybe there is hope that maybe my daughter will also someday find a place to bloom.