What the WHAT? Signs of Life

After traveling to Wisconsin twice over the last three weeks for funerals and memorial services, I woke up with renewed energy and looked forward to “Birthday Week.” Wanting to catch up with writing and blogging, I planned to take care of a few errands first. Imagine my surprise when cleaning up the breakfast dishes. I discovered this in my garbage disposal.

How could a plant germinate on the rubber shield? Three weeks ago, I donned rubber gloves and scrubbed that filthy thing with bleach. We don’t eat sprouts, so it had to be some kind of seed that stuck in the crack. A pumpkin seed?

Then a thought struck. My dad obsessed over the garbage disposal. He believed he could “dispose” of any leftovers including bones. I remember my teeth chattering and the whole house vibrating while a chicken leg gyrated around the drain. He drew a line at turkey and steak bones, but not for the lack of trying a few times.

I’ve never seen anything like this. Do I think it’s a sign from my dad who died on October 18th? I don’t know. It’s probably more of a sign that life continues. The irony? My sister, son and husband will celebrate their birthdays over the next nine days. It cracked me up. Thank God I didn’t eat an apple and press the core down the Insinkerator last night. I would never have seen this tiny plant.

A few weeks ago I felt guilty when we cut down a few bushes and trees in our yard even though they had become eyesores. They seemed pretty happy with their gnarly selves. I’ll try to transplant this strange little miracle, but I doubt I’ll be able to extract its fragile root system.

This would be a great photo for a meme:

When life goes down the drain, look a little closer.

This is your mind on the INTERNET. (Leftovers going down the garbage disposal). This is your mind UNPLUGGED. (photo of tiny plant)

Any ideas for other memes?

My sister, Patty, kicks off Birthday Week today. Happy Birthday, little sista! I bet you’d love a seedling this year…

What do you think about the appearance of this tiny sign of life? Time to clean the Insinkerator again? Has anything grown in your garbage disposal other than the usual suspects?

Since it’s the most ornate Insinkerator I’ve ever seen, I’ve linked it to The Weekly Photo Challenge even though they probably had something else in mind.