Got Vine

Nature fascinates me. Fauna has always piqued my interest. The way plants are able to grow and thrive in specific environments intrigues me want to learn more about them. I love to play the game called Know What That's Called. Annoying, I know! Humans and plants alike are in this manner, we are growing and also planting ourselves in environments that suits us. I think deeply on these subjects when I have the opportunity to relax, like really relax. 

This was the case the other day on a very warm August, Sunday afternoon.  Having relaxed conversation under a weathered trestle that only a few weeks prior was simply covered in a mass of seemingly dead leaves and brown withered, now revealing an abundance of lush greenery bursting to life with delicate tendrils, buzzing bees, amid multiple shades of green. I don't know for certain what variety of wild grapes they were, but according to the woman who cared for the vines and also the adjacent garden, they were originally planted by the previous owners approximately 50 years ago.

While having the pleasure to sit underneath this natural tangle of life, I found myself in a quiet reflection of wonderment at Mother Nature's beauty and perhaps a hidden secret behind it all. I not only saw life in these vines, but I saw life in these vines. From the mass of vines and leaves atop the aging trestle, to the dense new overgrowth, I found myself sitting underneath a slice of paradise that  equate only to sitting next to the ocean.  

As I sat there listening to chirping sparrows and the occasional  drone of airplanes flying low overhead, I stared through the new growth of that year and realized life is similar to this growth of wild grape vines; layer after layer, year after year, never fully shedding the past, yet simply adding to it. 

Our life's past experiences were like the top of the trestle; a pile of experiences and life lessons from the past. The new growth was vibrant, expanding out for better sun exposure, as if seeking out a new frontier. But lastly, you could see young, tendrils wildly branching off to new places, straying off from the trestle, in all directions, searching for something to cling on to in a wild and haphazard way. All of this, yet again, reminds me of life. I envision my family, my childhood, my young adult life, and where I find currently find myself.

With this fresh growth of the season, I realize this represents who I am at this very moment in time. I am independent. I am firmly planted to my roots, yet always seeking growth. 

I am this grapevine. 

cdl