This bit, about Freud's grandson (the author's father) is hilarious:

On one occasion when he appeared on the Johnny Carson chat show in the US, he had it written into his contract that he wouldn’t answer questions about Sigmund. Carson obviously sensed a story and asked the grandfather question, so my dad answered at length about his mother’s father, who had been a banker in Berlin.

I have a number of plants that I inherited from my Mom. Some I remember from as far back as my early childhood (and I'm over 65!).

Maintaining these living legacies has a lot of meaning for me.

These same living plants were nourished and loved by my Mom through her life.

What a great remembrance...

Sometimes a begonia is just a begonia.

I have dappled morning begonias, one of which is in bloom while another is … not doing so well. The cuttings idea is interesting, though, especially because it produces clones — maybe I'll start propagating the best ones!

The secret, darling, is that you are the begonia.

Good or bad, we are all partial copies of our ancestors, good or bad.

Fun fact, I guess: I acquired a cutting of that same Sigmund Freud begonia that was successfully propagated into three big plants that live in my house. My fiancee worked at the Freud Museum / house for a while in London, and the plant was gifted to her when she left the job.