Mum pulls hilarious plant prank on husband... five years after her death
Phedre Fitton finally had the last laugh, after losing her battle against cancer in 2013.
The hilarious 69-year-old made sure to keep her husband, Nigel Fitton, laughing long after she'd passed.
Pulling one final prank on unsuspecting Nigel, she asked him to keep watering the plants in their South African home.
He faithfully watered the plants for years, before realising that they were made from plastic.
Their daughter Antonia Nicol, a London-based firefighter, shared the story on her Twitter:
Before my mum passed away, she gave my dad strict instructions to water the plants in the bathroom. He's been religiously watering them & keeping them alive. They look so amazing he decided to take them to his new home, only to discover they are plastic! Can hear my mum chuckling pic.twitter.com/N87giD5zKT
— Antonia Nicol (@Flaminhaystack) 16 January 2018
Featuring a stock picture of a plant, Antonia wrote:
"Before my mum passed away, she gave my dad strict instructions to water the plants in the bathroom. He's been religiously watering them and keeping them alive.
They look so amazing he decided to take them to his new home, only to discover they are plastic! Can hear my mum chuckling."
Speaking to The Huffington Post, Antonia said that she flew back home to help her dad move house. It was only then that they discovered their mothers long-standing joke.
“It was only when we flew over to help him move we all realised the plants were plastic. He said, ‘I wondered why they still looked so good.’”
“We really laughed about it and it was lovely to think that my mum was still there with us,” she continued.
— Antonia Nicol (@Flaminhaystack) 18 January 2018
Antonia followed up the initial tweet, saying that her mum was "very funny" with a "cheeky sense of humour".
Watering the plants was not only a massive joke, but it was also provided Nigel a way of coping with his grief.
Caring for the plants “gave him something to do,” Antonia said. As for the excess water? Her father “thought the toilet had a leak due to the puddles on the floor.”
Nigel was so blown away by the response his daughters tweet received that he reenacted watering the ferns for the benefit of the Internet.
@dannywallace my dad has loved this story being on here so much, he's reenacted watering the ferns pic.twitter.com/1NJpoYbpY8
— Antonia Nicol (@Flaminhaystack) 17 January 2018
The posts have since gone viral, Antonia saying that she was “staggered” by the response.
“It’s also inspired people to open about the loss of their own loved ones,” she said. “In times of awful news, it’s been really lovely to talk about something really sweet.”
Sorry to hear of your loss. I lost my lovely mum last year, she was 85. But she would've loved that joke; my mum like yours had a wicked sense of humour.
— Lawrie80sBoy (@The80sBoy) 17 January 2018
Sending loves to both of you . I also lost mine while she's battling cancer. She was 49. It's been a year and a half but sometimes it feels like getting harder each time I think of her.
— tokimato (@miraa_culous) 18 January 2018
Never gets any easier tho, does it. Lost mine in August. Big hole. But lots of laughs x
— Suzanne (@librasuzanne) 16 January 2018
Aw, thank you for the late night chuckle, and caring heartfelt tingle. I gather your Mother and Father were made for each other in the stars. What a brilliant sense of humor, too.
Now, where can I order a plant like that from across the pond that looks so real! 😉
— Christopher Costa (@CarePlanMedia) 17 January 2018
We're so glad that Antonia shared this heart-warming story, a fantastic reminder of the ability to find humour in the most difficult times.