Counting by 7s

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

My second interest: plants. They are living, growing, reproducing, pushing and pulling in the ground all around us at all times. We accept that without even noticing. Open your eyes, people. This is amazing. If plants made sounds, it would all be different. But they communicate with color and shape and size and texture. They don’t meow or bark or tweet. We think they don’t have eyes, but they see the angle of the sun and the rise of the moon. They don’t just feel the wind; they change directions because of it. Before you think I’m crazy (which is always a possibility), look outside. Right now. I’m hoping that your view isn’t of a parking lot or the side of a building. I’m imagining you see a tall tree with delicate leaves. You catch sight of swaying grass in a wide field. Weeds pushing up through a crack in the sidewalk are in the distance somewhere. We are surrounded. I’m asking you to pay attention in a new way and view it all as being Alive. With a capital A.