Planted
Before some trees surrender their final green,
they loosen the seeds they once held close,
letting them fall from branches losing life
into soil waiting quietly underneath.
Thirty-five years grew within those branches,
roots deep enough to seem permanent,
until what had always promised another season
began dropping everything it once held.
A seed cannot grow while clinging to the tree,
nor put down roots before being released,
so what felt like falling into darkness
became the first movement toward another life.
Months beneath unfamiliar soil,
a shell breaking where no one could see,
new roots searching through altered ground
while something inside kept reaching upward.
Now a stubborn shoot has turned toward light,
carrying traces of everything that came before,
not restoring the tree that once held it,
but becoming something entirely its own.
Break Through
Does the seed feel the moment it splits,
when the shell that carried it underground
can no longer contain what is growing inside,
and survival requires breaking itself open?
Does the soil feel the first intrusion,
a tender shoot pressing through its darkness,
moving grains that had settled together,
making room where no room existed before?
Maybe every emergence carries a wound,
some quiet tearing beneath the surface,
where what protected us must give way
and what surrounded us must be disturbed.
The shoot keeps rising through the opening,
soft enough to bend beneath a fingertip,
yet strong enough to divide the earth
that only yesterday held it completely.
No scar is visible once it reaches daylight,
only green unfolding beneath the sun,
while somewhere below, a broken shell remains
beside the earth that let it through.
What You’ll Find Here
Reinvention After 50
Career changes, identity shifts, burnout recovery, confidence rebuilding, and starting over.
AI Without Intimidation
Practical, plain-English AI guidance for people who feel overwhelmed by technology.
Creativity & Writing
Writing, storytelling, creativity, publishing, and building something meaningful again.
