Earrings: Anthropologie Coined Gypsy Hoops
"We're built to last..." - The Wind and + The Wave
I've been wanting to take photos with this tree growing out of the wall for years. I mean, how cool is it that some random tree is growing out of a wall in the middle of town, not to mention the metaphors I could write related to this sucker? However, it just hasn't been big enough to capture both me and the tree in a photo until now. I can't believe how much it's grown! It's even bearing some kind of fruit or nuts or something... See them hanging down way at the top in that last picture? Anybody know what kind of tree this is? I would love to know.
Anyway, this thing was a twig a few years back when Jerry and I first started taking photos. I figured it would die or be destroyed before it would ever get big enough for a photo. It seems like all our other photo spots are being destroyed or boarded up. The one thing this town had going for it was all the crusty, old buildings for photos. I mean, I get the ones that are being torn down because they are being rebuilt or are condemned, but I do not get putting a piece of plywood over a perfectly good door.
Given the city's new found affinity for plywood, I was glad we were able to find a new photo spot under this amazing tree. I say amazing because how the Hell does this tree survive, let alone thrive, in a fucking wall? I like to imagine there's some little gnomes or something living inside the building giving it magical fertilizer and water. More likely, there's some drug addicts in there throwing their old crack pipes and needles in it. Maybe I should call it the "Magical Crack Tree." There used to be a tree on my college campus that everyone called the "Cancer Tree" because it was full of cigarette butts...
Damn, I'm rambling. I meant to write this deep, metaphorical post about how life is like this tree, struggling to survive with the odds stacked against it, but I'm just not feeling it. Nope, I'm fresh out of hope today. I'm getting old, my kids are getting old, Robin Williams is dead... The world seems like a dark place.
I wish it didn't bother me so much that time keeps marching on and things keep changing. I suppose I should be glad that my kids are growing up, thriving, and becoming individuals, but instead it fills me with great sadness. Like, my heart physically hurts when I think about it. It seems so surreal that my baby making days are over, that yet another chapter in my life has come to close. I feel that I'm edging ever closer to becoming obsolete like the boarded up buildings in town. I have 10 more years with my kids and then what? It's a scary fucking thought.
Sorry to be all pessimistic and shit, but just keeping it real, folks. Something about this tree is comforting, though. It reminds me that even though our circumstances may be different the cycle of life is pretty much the same for us all. There are plenty of things we can't change about life, but we do have control over how we perceive it during the short time we are here.
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I think that is a so-called "Princess tree." Ironic double-entendre entirely unintended -- but smile-inducing nonetheless. If you can get a look at it when it's in blossom, you can tell for sure.
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