Room to Grow

Everything is growing these days.  There's a newness to this spring, especially, that I'm aware of.  Yesterday I wanted to buy Henry a new pair of Crocs for his growing feet.  Size 6 is becoming much too small, yet he insists on wearing them even though they must be getting uncomfortable.  I couldn't find Crocs locally so I picked up a similar-style shoe at Kohl's, size 7.  They were much too big.  I realize that these shoes will fit him pretty soon and it's nice to have a pair waiting in the wings.  I'll have to take his in-between feet with me to the store in Bolton Landing that sells Crocs and all the little doo-dads that can be plugged in to them.

Katie and Bill planted three young trees yesterday, their trunks barely wider than my wrist -- a Honey Crisp apple tree, a peach tree (a hardy variety for our climate), and a cherry tree.  They placed them along their just-installed split-rail fence.  This morning I took a photo of one of the trees near the fence, to remind us later how big the trees will have grown.  One day Henry's new and too-big shoes will look tiny compared to his bigger feet, I'm sure.  I am keenly aware of how "beginning" everything is for their family -- their new house, their growing family, and their new trees.  I am reminded of having once had that perspective on life; it seems familiar, though I am not part of it, really.  My seasoned eyes see these beginnings with an awareness of how fast time passes, how quickly trees and children grow, and how "newness" is so fleeting.  I hope they stop time for a moment to smell the apple blossoms and the sweet scent of a baby's  hair.