Retirement was a big change for my neighbor Mary Ann. \u201cThe biggest downside,\u201d she told me, \u201cis that I miss having a reason to get myself out of the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her children found a solution. They gave Mary Ann a big potted begonia plant with bold pink petals. All summer it bloomed by her front door. \u201cI love coming outside to admire it!\u201d she told me one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you going to take it in for the fall?\u201d I asked once the weather started to change. \u201cI never have luck with houseplants,\u201d she said. \u201cI suppose my begonia was only meant to last the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated to think of her losing that plant\u2014and the joy it gave her. Maybe I could keep it alive, and plant it in the ground next spring. I called a greenhouse for advice. \u201cA begonia will have a hard time surviving the dry winter air, even indoors,\u201d the man told me. But for me it was worth a try.<\/p>\n
Mary Ann was delighted with my scheme. All winter she checked up on the plant, sometimes just poking her head out and calling to me from the porch. \u201cHow\u2019s the begonia doing?\u201d she\u2019d ask, and we\u2019d wind up chatting about all kinds of things.<\/p>\n
That spring I replanted the healthy begonia outside Mary Ann\u2019s front door. Those bold pink blossoms are a reminder of a blooming friendship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Retirement was a big change for my neighbor Mary Ann. \u201cThe biggest downside,\u201d she told me, \u201cis that I miss having a reason to get myself out of the house.\u201d Her children found a solution. They gave Mary Ann a big potted begonia plant with bold pink petals. All summer it bloomed by her front […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":25751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[2405],"class_list":["post-14078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-angels"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n