A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about finding written treasures from a long time ago. I have had this paper written while at Ferris State University, (then a college) in 1984 or 85,(not sure which it was) and have been planning on sharing it with you, so here it is. It is about my mother’s fern. I wrote about my piece of the fern here.

College paper typed on a typewriter

The paper

It is hard to read it so I typed it out below, as written, with the mistakes.

The Fern

My mother has many houseplants, but she always seems to devote most of her time and attention to her Boston Fern. She fertilizers it, waters it regularly, mists it, and prunes the dead leaves quite often. She also turns it occasionally so every side of it will receive the optimum amount of light. It is in an east window of our house, the best window for a Boston fern to be in. Consequently, it is a very healthy and beautiful plant. My mother receives many compliments on her fern.

Like the fern grows toward the light, so I grow toward the happy, bright things in life. Laughter and fun are much better than sadness. No one likes dark, unhappy things, just as most plants, like the fern, don’t like to be put in a dark place.

If the fern wasn’t taken care of as my mother takes care of it, it certainly wouldn’t be as beautiful as it is. So I also need to be taken care of. I like my independence, but life wouldn’t be as nice if there wasn’t someone to care for me and pay special attention to me occasionally. I remember when I was younger and didn’t feel good, my mother would take care of me. She would make me soup and give me my medicine even when I fought her. Now I have friends who are there when I’m not feeling well or if I’m feeling down.

As I grew up I needed room to grow as a person just as the fern needs room to grow. My parents never tried to keep me their little girl and were usually rather good about letting me do the things I wanted. Sometimes they didn’t approve of everything I did but they at least tried to understand.

My parents have always tried to do what was best for me. They took me to church and tried to be good examples to me. From this I’ve acquired many beliefs and morals which are always there for me to rely on and fall back on. They hold me up and support me just as the roots of the fern support it. They bring the plant water and nutrients which it needs to grow.

As the fern grows it produces many branches which spread out and grow. Like the fern my life branches out into many different sections. I have my school work, my friends and family, my work, my church, and so many other things. But as I grow, the things which I no longer need have to be cut out and thrown away, just as my mother trims the dead branches out of the fern.

The fern has a very good growing environment, and I, like the fern grew up in a very good home environment. There was always a lot of love and I was always well taken care of. Without this love and care, neither of us would have grown to be healthy, beautiful living things.

Here it the paper with the teacher’s corrections

The second page

The graded paper

The corrections

I have to say, Grammarly didn’t agree with the teacher on everything. It did not change the “wasn’t” to “weren’t” as she did and she didn’t change “which spread” to “that spread” as Grammarly did. I still have the “that” and “which” problem today. I don’t think I will ever understand which one to use.  But I did get an A+ and she wanted a copy, which I am sad to say, I never got to her. Sorry Mrs. Brownell.

Comments from the teacher

I talk a lot about this family fern on my blog and on Instagram. It is from 1957 and I now have that very fern in my house. When mom moved in with my brother, she gave it to me. Now she has a beautiful newly built room there and she has a piece of the fern back with her and she loves it. I will tell that whole story and show you how to propagate ferns another time.

I hope you enjoyed this paper I wrote over 30 years ago when I was 18. I was a plant geek even back then!

Tell me about your family plants in the comments.