The class was all about how to plant a living wall of succulents and other plants in specially made supports, complete with examples of the different materials and irrigation methods. Each of us had been provided with matching folders with handouts in them, as well as identical pens with the logo of the garden emblazoned on them. At the end of the presentation we would each plant our own mini hanging garden to take home.
The teacher began passing out items for us to look at. She passed the items to the right side of the class, each of us in turn took the item and inspected it and passed it to our classmates. It just so happened that I was on the right.
As the first item was handed to me I thought "Shit, now I have to hand this to her". And then I smiled to myself and thought, Why yessss, I am going to have to hand this to her. Mwahaha. So I carefully inspected the black, rough textured irrigation tubing, turning it over in my hands lovingly inspecting it from every angle, and then turned to her, met her eyes and smiled sweetly as I handed it to her.
She hesitated for a moment as I held the piece of rubber tubing out to her. She stared as if it were a snake, but eventually she did take it from me. Now she was the one not making eye contact. She barely touched it by both ends, mostly with her fingernails and quickly passed it to her left. And so it went for ninety excruciating minutes.
By the end of the presentation after I had lovingly fondled and then passed on about ten items, I was starting to feel guilty. The shame was creeping back in. "I am a nice person, I know better. Why didn't I just humble myself and go wash my hands? This is why I can't make friends. I 'm a terrible person."
YOU ARE READING
The Arboretum
NonfiksiA true story of the insane thing that happened to me when I stepped out of my comfort zone and signed up for an adult ed class at a local arboretum.
