My Prickly Pear Cactus and A VERY Embarrassing Story!

First, I want to tell you about my cactus. It is a Prickly Pear Cactus! It means a lot to me...and I'm not just saying that...it REALLY does! In fact, it means so much to me that i think if it were to die-I might just die too! You are probably wondering why this tiny little cactus means so much to me... well here is its story!

In the Spring of my first year teaching, I was trying to help my 4th graders understand Utah plants and animals and their adaptations. During this unit I came across some Prickly Pear Cactus seeds. I decided that it would be really fun to plant them and watch them grow. Having never grown a cactus before, I did a little research and made sure I knew exactly what we needed to do in order to get these seeds to grow!

We planted the seeds in little cups and lined them up in the window seal. I knew approximately how long they would take to sprout but I made my students predict anyway:) Then we waited and waited and waited:) The date I had set in my head past, as well as several more weeks, and unfortunately the seeds never grew. We were all very dissapointed(especially me) and eventually we decided that the seeds were probably bad-so we threw them away. All except for ONE. I kept ONE cup. I took it home. I wasn't quite ready to completely give up hope!

The school year ended and I pretty much had forgotten all about our cactus growing experiement. Until one summer day when I happened to look up at the cup and noticed a tiny cactus poking out of the dirt! I was SO thrilled I nearly cried! That little cactus was the hope I needed!
Ever since that day I have taken EXTRA good care of it. It is a constant reminder to me that things don't always happen on our time table or in the way that we expect them to. It also brings back a flood of memories from that school year, the wonderful people I met, and the ways in which I grew as a teacher and a person!
This summer it experienced a HUGE growth spurt...It made me so happy! So happy that I took about 20 pictures of it with my camera! (Sometimes I think we have spiritual "growth spurts" too and it makes HIM just as happy:)

So now for the embarrassing part...

I am now teaching 5th grade at a different school. Yesterday the principal asked me to send her a picture of myself via email. I cannot reveal to you why she needed the picture...but I can tell you that it needed to be a professional looking picture. Anyway, I came home, found a picture, and sent it off.

Moments after I arrived at school this morning the principal was at my door.
With a confused face she said, " What kind of picture is that!"
I was mortified and confused myself. I thought that the picture had been okay and professional looking enough. I started questioning her, WHAT exactly was she looking for and what was wrong with the picture I had sent?... when she blurted out...
"It's a picture of a cactus!"

Then she busted up laughing!

I just keep reminding myself that it could have been A LOT worse:)