What I Learned From Tomato Plants

Tomatoes are not really made for winter. It's a little too cold for them to survive. Why then, come spring, do we find our garden a forest of tiny cherry tomato plants?

...because they left behind a lot of seeds. Even where a full grown (and I mean BIG) plant can't survive the snow and ice,  the special tiny seeds stay alive, but dormant. Particularly the cherry tomatoes survive well. They drop hundreds of fruits to the ground, knowing that their seeds will outlive them.

The lesson?

Even when certain parts of ourselves can't survive the trials of life (like my dancing abilities or really old friendships) it's the bits of things we learned and planted that will stay to grow in another spring. I can't remember the name of the girl who shared her pencils with me in second grade, but the lesson learned has survived. I can't always speak with the people I love, but the bits and pieces I can say will survive on to grow in other places, in other times. Just like seeds.