It all started as a single digit child when my grandmother purchased me a ¢25 cactus from Frank’s Nursery & Crafts on the southside of Chicago. I recall using the Dewey Decimal System to locate books on how to care for a cactus in this thing called a library. Throughout the course of my research, my love affair with the desert was born. Over the years I would tend to The Cactus as if it was a pet. I knew which corners of the home it liked best. I knew it didn’t need much water. I knew it liked to hang out outside during the summer months. My grandmother would pass on while I was still in grade school, but The Cactus and I would carry on.