Starting a new company? I encourage you to plant a tree. Please enjoy this really old piece of writing, which I find pretty relevant still. Oh, apparently I didn’t listen to my own advice.

“Plant a tree when you start grad school” (6 June 2011)

If you are not starting grad school, imagine something like “get married”, “have a kid”, or “move somewhere new”.

I planted a tree when I started grad school. I wasn’t quite as resourceful when I moved to Chicago in 2006, so I planted a plumeria tree (Frangipani, a tropical plant) instead of something useful and locally grown like, say, an apple tree. Four and a half years later, the tree is larger than I ever thought it would get. And, while I’m amazed by its progress, I’m clueless how to proceed.

Once in a while, I look at my dissertation and I look at the tree, and I ask myself: have I accomplished as much as this tree has grown big? It’s a bit humbling. It would probably be even more humbling if its growth were not stunted by the size of its pot. I can’t believe it has produced such beautiful leaves and flowers from just water and miracle gro (and the original soil/sand I gave it at birth).

I don’t know what I’m going to do with it when I graduate and move on. If it were able to stand the Chicago winter, I would probably plant it somewhere secluded on campus, hopefully giving it sufficient shelter from the vicious landscapers who tear out flowers every season to plant new ones.

But no, this plant will not survive outside in the winter. Two years ago, I thought about taking it home to Southern California to gift to my parents for their backyard of tropical plants. I hesitated because I thought it wouldn’t pass as a carry-on, and now I have an even larger plant that will definitely not fit in the x-ray scanner.

My final solution is to ask a Conservatory to take him. The climate will be right, and, if I remember correctly, I’ve only seen one Frangipani plant in Chicago. The other Conservatory probably wants one to compete. Mine’s got a more interesting life story anyway.

So, when you undertake a project years long, I highly recommend you measure that time in the growth of a tree. But, take my advice and plant something that can 1) produce fruit and 2) live outside.

Tree1
This is why his name is Phallus. 17 January 2007.

Tree2
Second flowering. 5 June 2011.

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