My Favorite Italian Mother-In-Law

Julia was known to have a black thumb.  When she received a large plant as a gift, she soon called me to ask my advice on how she should care for it.  My suggestion was to fill the kitchen sink with three inches of water and place the entire plant in the water for an hour.  I told her the plant would drink as much water as it needed.  After a few weeks had passed, I asked her how the plant was doing.

Julia: “The plant is doing fine, but last time I put the pot in the sink, six nine-inch snakes crawled out of the pot.” 

Steve:  “Snakes!  Did you throw the plant out?” 

Julia:  “Oh no, how could I do that, I got the plant as a gift?”  Steve : “What did you do then?”

Julia: “I got a big plastic bag and I scooped up all the snakes and tied the bag in a knot.  Then I threw the bag in the garbage.”

Steve: “Didn’t you scream when you saw the snakes?” 

Julia:  “Why should I scream? There was nobody there to listen.”  Steve:  “Are you sure they were snakes?  They weren’t worms?”  Julia:  “Oh no, they were snakes!” 

We related this story to many people.  One day at a family gathering I told the story of the plant and the snakes.  After I finished with the entire story, Julia blurted out,

“Well maybe they were worms.”