A happy surprise

I love to garden. I've planted vegetables, mostly tomatoes, every summer since I've been out of college, which is more years than I'm willing to publish.
I've also almost always had houseplants, but those have usually been the low-maintenance variety. Spider plants, philodendron, snake plants, etc.
So I was delighted, and more than a bit intimidated, when I received an orchid as a gift. I have never owned one and knew nothing about how to care for them.
I'm trying to remember if I read "The Orchid Thief" before or after I got the plant as a gift. I imagined them very difficult to maintain.
My little orchid plant was in full bloom when I received it. And one by one the blooms all were spent. I was left with some green leaves and what looked like a twig sticking out of the pot.
But I had overheard, and I mean that very literally, a woman telling her friend that she had thrown out what my orchid plant now looked like, and the friend berated her, saying she should not have thrown it out, that it would bloom again.
So I kept my twig plant on my kitchen window sill all winter, watering it about once a week when the soil looked a little dry.
Lo and behold, another twig began to grow off of a "spent" twig, then blooms appeared. Two blooms fell off without ever opening.
But just last week one opened!

I suppose the little lesson for me is to have more patience. A happy surprise awaits.