The Brave Little Christmas Cactus

I do not have a green thumb.  In fact, I think that both of my thumbs are probably red, signaling to unsuspecting plants that I will most likely cause them harm.  Plants enter our apartment healthy but don't stay that way for long.  It's sad, and even though I've placed a fair amount of blame on our old apartment's mold problem, I just don't think that I'm a nurturer of potted plants.

But...last year, a sweet co-worker gave me a Christmas cactus for the holidays.  I loved this little plant but knew its days were numbered.  It looked great until February, then it started to wrinkle and shrivel.  No amount of water or sun could save it.  When we moved to our new place in May, I took the plant with us.  What harm could the move do since it was already pretty dead?

Here is a look of this brave little Christmas cactus today, almost a year after I received it:

I don't know what happened, but it somehow beat the odds.  I feel like a proud mama every time I look at its beautiful bright pink flowers.   Let this be a lesson to us all to never underestimate a little bit of perseverance, although part of me hopes that I don't get another plant for a long time.  My success with this specific cactus might very well be a gardening fluke, aka a gardening miracle.