An old friend

Yesterday I stopped on my path where a tree had fallen.

There in front of me lay large branches with blooming flowers.

Odd flowers of varying shades of purple.

Long, tube like blossoms, looking downward.

Some of the purple tubes were missing in fact

and the centers were exposed.

I searched for a branch to take with me

as I always do,

and as I looked closer I saw that this was someone I knew.

I recognized the seedpods,

I knew it from my winter walks;

the days when these seeds were young and sweet and small.

I gathered them up back then.

When I knew nothing of what was to come.

Now, in it’s adolescence, the branches lay here before me.

And with mercy, carry it back home once again

so I may be reminded

of the resiliency and beauty

of youth.

Week 20. Revisiting and Recognizing.

While running one morning I came upon a group of large branches, which had fallen smack in the middle of my path. I noticed the beautiful purple flowers at first. Then after further inspection I saw that I knew this tree. It was one that I had admired for its gorgeous mustard pods, back in the winter (twisting tiny vines, week 11). This particular tree took me by surprise. It was like seeing an old friend who you don’t recognize at first. The flowering tree had had bloomed. It was spring and the tree was now in it’s adolescence stage and just beginning to mature. Stumbling upon this familiar branch made me think of how we find and lose people in our lives. Recently, I had dinner with old friends I knew years ago. It felt good to know that even as we all had changed the things that brought us together were still there. Connecting with those from out past allows us the opportunity to notice how we move into different stages of our lives. Revisiting old friendships seems to help us evaluate who we once were and what remains still so much a part of who we are today.