Robert Plant, age 25.

August 1987.  I had just flown across the country to attend graduate school, and moved into a small 1 bedroom apartment.  I bought myself a small 3″ potted plant – a dracaena.  I thought it would brighten up the place.  It didn’t even reach to the bottom of the power outlet when it was sitting on the floor.  I christened him Robert Plant.

As I moved from place to place, i dragged Robert along with me – 25 years, 6 moves, 3 states.

In the past few years Robert grew to tower 11 or 12 feet high, with three or four trunks.  But, this last winter, I left Robert out one night too many – and he experienced a hard freeze.  I thought it was the end for my green friend.  He sat in the garage untended all winter and most of the spring with brown leaves, showing no signs of life.

A couple of months ago, we hauled a dead Robert out into the backyard and cut off all his stalks.  Monte was thinking about reusing the pot.  But we didn’t dump out the pot; left it there for a while, and it was watered along with all the other plants nearby.

And, just a few weeks back, what to my wondering eyes did appear?  But a tiny green tuft of leaves growing bigger every day.  Robert lives!  Welcome back, buddy!