I Sent My Sick Mother to the Cheapest Nursing Home—After Her Death, Her Plant Broke Me

I sent my elderly mother to a cheap nursing home, feeling practical but also selfish. She only brought a single green plant with her. Forty days later, I learned she had passed away.

The nursing home returned her plant with a note: “Search inside the soil.” Buried in the soil were three small bags of gold coins—one for each of my children.

Even in her final days, my mother had been thinking of us, sacrificing her comfort to provide for my children’s future. Her love endured beyond my neglect, teaching me that care and compassion can persist even when we fail.