I loved this plant. You have to baby trailing begonias, and I worked hard for the past two years at turning this one into, as my mother put it, a “show stopper.”
She asked me about it the other day, and I had to tell her how I killed it. At the end of the season last year, I did everything I was supposed to do with this begonia, one of my favorite plants.
After the first frost, I brought the plant in, put the very ugly tuber into a contain filled with peat moss, then placed the whole thing into a dark closet. Come spring, I brought it out, put it in a sunny window, and was supposed to lightly water it.
My problem was I put way too much water on the darn thing, and it rotted. By the time I realized it, Whiteflower Farms had sold out of all their stock, so I’m doing without my Orange Cascade this year.
Now all this may sound trivial, and in the big picture, it is, but I was really disappointed in myself for not following the growing instructions and killing a $30 plant.
It seems like we deal with some disappointment just about every day. Some relate to very serious and important things, and others are about minor issues. The question is, how to we get over them?
I think the key is perspective. If we suffer a minor setback, we can pick ourselves up and keep moving. Figure out what went wrong and develop ways to keep from being in the same situation again.
For the more serious issues, it might take time to get over it. Praying about it will help. Talking it over with a good friend might ease the pain. Realizing that there are many other people in far worse situations could help you understand that, in the grand scheme of things, your situation is a blip on the screen. You’ll deal with it and move on.
Life is too short to be trapped in negative thinking. Tomorrow, God will give us all the chance to turn things around and make things right. Give it a try.
