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August 31: Bobby Russ
Tonight, I sit out on the lanai and listen to the creatures of the night chirping. Sitting with me are 3 plants I'm trying to get growing a bit before I transplant them. They were given to me on behalf of people who knew Renee as they were one of Renee's favorite plants. Renee was someone who loved gardens, flowers, and nature. With this said, she had horrible luck growing things. She bought several trees, plants, etc and all of them died. Unfortunately, she had a bit of a black thumb.

I told you that story to tell another. About 3 years ago, Renee was leaving from one walmart (4434) to another (4565). Lydia put together a fairy garden which was very beautiful and gave it to Renee. It was amazing. I remember Renee bragging about it and how excited she was about it. When it got home, she pointed out every little detail talking about how awsome this was and that was. It was on our living room table as the centerpiece. Renee was so honored by the gift. I also warned her that the plants in it just need very little care and that I could take care of it for her if she'd like. Well, that was the wrong statement to make. She took that as a challenge and was going to prove to me that she could take care of it. Renee was always one who accepted challenges and would try to succeed even against great odds. In many cases, she did. She always impressed me with solutions she came up with.

Unfortunately, she struggled with the box keeping the plants alive and eventually they did not survive. She felt disappointed because she thought she let people down. That was the type of person she was. Even though no one would really know, she knew. Of course, I reassured her, joked with her, and made her feel better. It was a little joke from then on that she could kill any plants. That wouldn't stop her from trying and I never stopped her either. I knew she wanted to raise and maintain plants. After the plants died, she collected up the different pieces that were inside and put them in baggies. I haven't found them yet, but I know they are somewhere. The base of it, she used for a few different experiments since then including tomatoes. It now sits in our back yard as memory she had. She was so proud of it and even after all the plants died, she still wanted to keep it to treasure it.