Secretary's Day

This morning when I walked into my cube. I found a little pot full of half-withered pink African Violets. A gift for Secretary's Day.

Hm. I used to have another African violet, from another Secretary's Day years before, but just a few weeks ago, it finally died. Despite my attempts with food, water and a special place right under the florescent overhead light, the poor thing lost its original blooms to never bloom again-eventually wilting and then dying, its branches unable to hold the weight of this place. Each one drooping and then falling off.

I always wondered about that little plant. If it missed its home on the African rain forest floor. If it missed the soggy dampness and warmth and the other African violets. If it missed the way the soft rain must have felt on its leaves. It just couldn't thrive under these lights, this intense quiet punctuated by the cackling of The Woman on the Other Side of the Cube and the rattling of the air conditioning vents.

When I finally threw away my little plant's remains, instead of having a funeral, I celebrated, taking it as a sign that my tenure here would be coming to an end. I thought my ship was coming in.

But then this morning I received a replacement.

How much longer is this going to last? Why am I not content? What do I want?
I wish I knew.

Its all not so bad, this morning I picked up a set of mixing bowls I ordered from a secretary upstairs, a woman trying to start her own business, trying to get out. I'd of bought ten bowls from the saint. Looking at those gleaming white mixing bowls made me feel contented if just for a moment, reminding me that I would be home in eight or nine hours washing my new bowls in almond flavored dish soap. Then after that, I can start mixing! Perhaps I need to learn to delight in the little things. Yes!

But then I remember that for now I'm here, stuck in this isolation, this silence with nothing but a violet to keep me company. A violet and three white plastic bowls.

Maybe I should take my new friend home. With its little pink blooms. This violet deserves a chance.