I Bought a Jade Plant

©Emeka Okereke

I grew up in a home in the small town of Aba, in the East of Nigeria, embraced by the warmth and beauty of flowering plants. My father (in hindsight) had the greenest of thumbs. Ours was a house, not an apartment. It was fenced. Apart from the outside gate, another gate within the house served as a courtyard demarcator between sections of our home. My dad ensured that all parts of the house were decorated with plants that grew into life-size. We…