Originally Posted by chong

I forgot to tell this. Gardening used to be a form of punishment for me. As I was considered to be the blacksheep, my punishment was to do the chores at home after my parents let our maids go. And since I dropped out of my first time at Sophomore year, I was at home doing all the chores - cooking, housecleaning, dishwashing, washing clothes(by hand), and watering the plants. Funny, though, after several months of this, I actually loved doing them, and was actually proud that I could do all those things. The best part was it actually prepared me for parenthood, as I was also taking care of my 2 baby brothers, who were only 14 months apart.

I remember the afternoon plant waterings where I would actually begin to talk to my Mom's plants, and after a while, I noticed that our plants were the best looking plants in the neighborhood. So much so, that our neighbors were asking my Mom for plants. I think what clinched it was my Mom would tell them that she'd have to ask me first, before giving them any. And all those Mrs. were so beholding to me for consenting to give them some. I mean, I was welcome to their homes, they fed me snacks, I could come visit their daughters!

Ahhh! If I had to do it all over again, I could have been a gigolo in my early teens! But, sadly, I was too naive. Get this, I just wanted to be nice . . . .