Our friend Cara De Silva sent us a link to images of trees growing through concrete, with these words.

…I was startled and grateful when I looked at these beautiful and inspiring photographs.

But not only for the usual reasons. For months now I have been seeing such trees as a metaphor, have been thinking of my embattled-yet-always-persevering self as this kind of tree, always pushing up and out from the concrete, from the New York sidewalks, as though a human version of these determined, no-matter-what, denizens of our city. 

We TOTALLY “get” what Cara wrote and feel the same way ourselves. In fact, we’ve been exchanging photos of trees growing through boulders, concrete, walls, pianos with a number of friends because we admire and take comfort in their fortitude.  We thought these images from our friend Fast Forward illustrate Cara’s words wonderfully (and first hand). They are not only in New York, like the one in a Harlem park, above, but all over the world…

…upstate New York…

…through a wall in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico…

…around a fallen tree in Costa Rica…

…We can’t help adding to Cara’s metaphor…of encompassing and growing a big spirit as we grow…

…

…

….And then, there’s the piano tree:

Want more tree inspiration? Check out these images from Cara’s original link.