Growth and Fake Baobab Trees

I saw something strange on my bike ride on Sunday. And cognitive biases being what are, I'm seeing them all the time now. Strange, intentionally (maybe?) deformed Bradford Pears (who plants these allergen inducing suckers anymore???). Their long limbs have been chopped, leaving them with an over cropped appearance, like that guy I had a crush on once who always had a bad haircut. Unlike the fellow, though, they appear to be masquerading as my favorite tree, Adansonia, more commonly known as the Baobab.

Unfortunately, the resemblance is not very strong. Between the guy and the Baobabs and the local hyper-cropped pears and the Baobabs. The Baobabs also remind me of the prickly pears of the Galapogos... completely deformed from the typical form.

This is all to say, sometimes things grow funny. Environmental factors (prey, like on the Galapogos, or humans wielding sharp, pointy things), can change an organism. Whether it's purely a visual change, like the chopping of the limbs on ornamental trees used for landscaping, or the genetic change to create a new species of tree that is unlike its relatives, change has happened. Change is part of growth. Maybe the inverse is true, too.

On a ride a few weeks ago, I was talking to a ride companion whom I've never met before. We were riding along, talking about my mountain bike experience, and how I felt my handling improved because of it. She made a comment about how we all should keep growing.

I've recently come into contact with people whom I've known at different times in my life. I sometimes wonder if they could have guessed I would be who I am now. I couldn't. Ever. Ten years ago, I would have laughed in your face if you had told me I'd love anything and everything to do with a bicycle, or that I'd be increasingly passionate about math and science, or that I'd become such a flaming liberal. Five years ago, I would never have imagined I would actually want to stay home after the Hobbes-it goes to school, that I'd be through with triathlons entirely, or that I'd be willing to walk away from what I thought was my dream job. I've been trimmed like a bonsai, and maybe the encoding that made me who I was changed, too.

I'm cool with that. I like who I've become (more Lent reference here for you...), this little piece of life which I've carved away and made all my own. It's a life I share with those around me, proudly. To those who pruned me gently, and those who wore away at me hard, thank you. I continue to grow today, in strange and different ways, because of you.