I believe things happen for a reason. Do you?
I also believe my Mom (in Heaven) had something to do with a plant stand purchase I almost made – but didn’t.
With the cooler months upon us, I needed to bring all of my tropical plants from our patios inside in order for them to survive the Winter. Most of these plants are huge, and take up a lot of space. Since I already have over 300 houseplants (many large) throughout the house, bringing in the plants I bought for the patios this year meant I needed to allocate extra space in our house for more plants.
In addition to a large plant room on our walkout level, and other rooms around the house, we also have an empty room on the southeast corner of our house that is always filled with sunshine. It’s the perfect room to use to over-Winter some of these large plants. This room will also serve as a guest bedroom.
Since the plants were all gathered in our entryway, waiting to be placed in other spots around the house, I quickly drew up my plans for this new Plant Room, created an inspiration board, and started redesigning this space.
I want the vibe of the room to feel like an old conservatory, filled with plants. A sanctuary where we can go to just relax and sit among the plants.
To fit with my vision for the room, I knew I wanted to find a big old metal plant stand to replace an existing bookcase in that space. I wanted something with character and style, something that would be used in a conservatory.
Last week, I started searching for a stand. I was checking all the vintage shops, the online buy/sell groups, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace. Within just two days of searching, I was so excited to have found a plant stand that I thought would be perfect for this new Plant Room!
I immediately contacted the woman selling it to make arrangements for me to pick it up – I was ready to go right then and there! She lives over an hour away from me, but I was willing to make the drive. I told her that her stand reminded me of a plant stand I had bought for my Mom back in the early 1990s, and that it would mean a lot to me to have this stand. The woman wasn’t able to meet me that day (a week ago today), so I sent her a message to try to arrange for the next day. We went back and forth many times with messages – each time I suggested a date to meet, she had a reason she couldn’t. I even offered to send her payment via PayPal or Venmo, just to have her hold the plant stand for me, but she didn’t want to do that. Ultimately, she sent me a message saying she was putting her items on ‘vacation mode’ while her and her husband went to their cabin to close it down for the season. I’m sure she was tired of my messages, but I just really didn’t want to miss out on what I thought would be the perfect stand. She said she would contact me as soon as she returned. It’s now a week later, and I haven’t heard from her yet.
While I’ve been waiting to hear back from this woman, I’ve continued my search for a plant stand. And, I haven’t been finding anything. You know how that is – you find something you think will be perfect, and then nothing else you find even compares. Darn.
This morning when I woke up, I had a nagging thought about the plant stand I had bought for my Mom so many years ago. I was trying hard to remember exactly what it looked like, and was wondering if it was still at my parent’s house. My brother now lives at my parent’s house, so I called him to ask about this plant stand and if it was still there. I haven’t seen it in a long time. He said it was still there, stored in a lean-to, and that it was filled with things that had been on Mom’s patio. The plant stand was stored behind a bunch of lumber that my brother is using for projects, so he said he would move the lumber and take a picture of the plant stand for me. I almost dropped my phone when I received the picture…
Mom’s plant stand is the EXACT SAME plant stand I’ve been trying to buy!
While this may not qualify as divine intervention, I firmly believe my Mom had something to do with this woman delaying me repeatedly – until I got the idea to check on Mom’s plant stand. IF this seller wouldn’t have delayed me, I would have bought HER plant stand – when here all along, my Mom’s plant stand is the same exact stand, and (I believe) has been waiting patiently in her backyard for me to go get it.
Of course, I would MUCH rather have my Mom’s plant stand! Duh! It has a lot of special meaning to me, and now it will be mine to enjoy. This is the BEST THING EVER!
I can’t wait to go get Mom’s plant stand and bring it home for our new Plant Room! My Mom loved plants as much as I do (I’m sure I get that from her), and now I’ll have yet one more piece of Mom here with me at our home.
Thank you, Mom, for the reminder. I’ll always love you.
143 Mom
P.S. I’ll update this post with photos of Mom’s plant stand as soon as I get it home and cleaned up. I’m so excited!!!
