Joys Of Life
A succulent tale
The joys of life happen when we least expect it.
Annie woke early after a rough night wondering how she was going to afford the next grocery bill. As a single mother, she had two children to feed and the power and water bills were both past due. And to top it all off, they just announced that interest rates were about to rise even further.
“There must be a way to make some more money,” Annie muttered to herself as she got out of bed. Her husband died tragically a few years before, leaving Annie to pay the mortgage on their house and all the other expenses with the meagre earnings from her job at the city council.
Annie called her two boys, Michael, 10, and Gabriel, 8, to breakfast. They were good kids and were already washed up, dressed, and ready for school.
“Any more Crispy Puffs, Ma?” asked Michael.
“No, sorry, Honey, we’re all out,” Annie said, feeling disappointed that she couldn’t afford her son’s favorite breakfast cereal.
“That’s ok, I’ll just have an apple instead,” said Michael.
They sat there, quietly eating their breakfast before the school bus arrived and before Annie had to make her way to work.
“Why don’t we start a business?” said Gabriel with wide eyes.
“A business?” asked Annie.
“Yeah, like, dad liked gardening and planted all those succulents in the back yard—why don’t we grow more and put them in pots and sell them?”
“That’s a nice idea, Gabe,” said Annie, “—but we can’t afford to start a business.”
“We could start small,” said Michael, putting the apple core into his bowl, “—like, maybe, sell succulents to the neighbors and around the suburb at first, until we get some money together.”
“I don’t know anything about business,” said Annie.
Then the school bus arrived, and the two boys kissed their mother, grabbed their bags and bolted out the door.
“Have a good day!” Annie called out.
After a hectic day at work, Annie’s mind returned back to the idea of starting a business while on the train ride home.
“Maybe this isn’t such a bad idea,” she said to herself.
Her husband was a botanist and planted a variety of succulents, or ‘xerophytes’ as he called them, and ornamental cacti from all around the world in their backyard. Maybe, Annie thought, just maybe this would work.
When she arrived home, she looked in the back shed and found an assortment of pots and gardening tools amongst the cobwebs. She dusted them off and placed them on the patio.
Michael and Gabe arrived back, and the school bus continued to rumble down the street.
“What are you doing, Ma?” asked Gabe.
“We’re starting a business,” said Annie with a smile.
The two boys’ eyes widened in excitement.
Almost a year later, Annie arrived back home from her accountant’s office.
“We’re registered!” she announced to her boys.
“Yay!” they cheered, hugging their mum.
“The accountant said that because there’s such a huge demand for our succulents, we might be able to start looking for a place and start a niche garden centre in a few more months.”
“That’s so cool!” said Michael, before pointing to his laptop screen, “we’re also getting even more orders online from all across the country.”
“Wow!” said Gabe.
Annie put her arms around her two boys and said, “A year ago we couldn’t pay our bills and the bank was going to take our house back—but thanks to you two, we’re now doing ok.”
“It’s been fun,” said Michael, as Annie had visions of him one day being the company’s director.
“Yeah, it’s been a blast,” said Gabe. Annie thought Gabe would be the Chief Innovation Officer—the whole business was his idea after all.
Annie and the boys were happy. They were doing well at school, and Annie had quit her job to dedicate her time to the business.
But it wasn’t the business that was the best part of the journey.
It was struggles and joys they experienced along the way that made it all worthwhile.
Michael’s computer chimed.
Another order came in.
