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[Mangrove]

It has come to my awareness that everyone seems to have a spirit plant, a plant which bears a special significance to the life and livelihood of a person. This plant molds a portion of their personality and character and cuts them off from the rest of the herd. IT is these spirit plants that one seems to hold many traits, both physical and psychological, in common with. Regardless of how many different kinds of plants one grows in their garden, one particular species of plant always stands out when compared to themself. This plant receives special love and attention above all the others as the gardener sees within the plant a mirror image of themself and thus values it, knowingly or subconsciously, above all others in his flock.

Reflecting and developing upon this far-flung idea of mine I grew curious as to which plant(s) I may consider to be my 'spirit plant'. This was no simple question at all; the very asking of it to myself brought an air of total seriousness and self-contemplation upon my psyche and thus begun a year long journey of consideration and meditation.

This idea first arose on mainland FL while attending horticulture lectures by a man who bred new and novel coleus strains. While he grew many many many plants in his flock he prized his coleus above all else. Whenever mention of the plant was brought to him, a smile darted across his face and a spark of love shone in his eye which did not show whenever we talked of any other plant. He spoke of his coleus as if they were the children he never had and it made me wonder which plant, if any, could bear such a significance to my own spiritual self.

Mind you, at this point in my journey I had been away from the mangrove swamps of the Keys for nearly a year or so and was growing tired of the swampland which now surrounded me. Whenever the thought of the mangrove swamps, abounding with life aplenty, which raised the islands I grew up in above the water's surface and furnished them with ecosystems unlike any other to be found across the US of A ran through my mind such a sparkle twinkled in my eye and my heart felt warm with nostalgia. It was in these mangrove swamps that I grew up, making games out of traversing the maze of arching prop roots which coated the islands. From the age of six onward I would daily venture forth into the mangroves to play and make merry among the serene and safe nature-made jungle gym. I would walk on prop roots as thin as my wrist (albeit usually thinner) for miles on end meters above salty muck three feet below. shielded from sunlight and rain by the all-encompassing canopy of the red mangrove leaves. Feeling brave, I would scale the age-worn trunks of these tremendous trees, poke my head above the canopy, and feast my eyes upon a sea of green unlike any other. One time, upon scaling a black mangrove in the midst of a tropical storm, I felt as if the tree had transmogrified into an octopus who was in the middle of giving a fire-brand sermon to the crew of the Pequod on the day of the final battle with Moby Dick and that I was doing a great disservice to Captain Ahab's Crew by disrespecting the minister. At other times, I would ride a kayak along the shore of the mangroves and nestle myself in a shaded nook overlooking the ocean, the protective prop roots holding my vessel in place as I leisurely read Hemingway under the sunny shade of paradise. The mangroves were my God parents; It was in their presence that I learned some of life's most valuable and powerful lessons, where I, for the first time in my life, felt the presence of the universe and found myself.

There is a fragment of my being which will forever exist among the mangrove swamps of the Keys, a region of my heart of hearts which will forever shine bright whenever my thoughts drift back to those places and the warm and wild memories I shared with them. It is in the mangroves my spirit was born, and it is in the mangroves it will forever dwell. If it comes about that I  part with my body, I wish my body be left to decay undisturbed in the midst of a virgin mangrove swamp, sent back to the world from whence it came.

Each and every one of us, whether we know it yet or not, is deeply intertwined with a plant or several plants which above all other plants. For me these are the mighty mangroves of my youth. I love all of my plants with all my heart, yet there exists a special place in the center of my heart for the mangroves. I would like to know which plant(s) you may consider to be your spirit plant(s), any why you would consider them as such.

Selah,
-Mangrove