“All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.”

- Ellen Glasgow

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When I was young I was told I was a seed; I would one day grow into a tree. The important part is that I would grow, I would not change. I would still be essentially the same thing when I was done, still the same tree. From seed to sapling to tree, they all grow up and out, but they’re the same.

When he was sixteen my brother decided he was a river; he would not grow, he would change. Through it all he would still be a river, still made of the same stuff, but the way it arranged itself, the way he thought and experienced things would be in constant motion.

From a creek to a river, it’s always water, and even though it grows, even though it’s never the same.

That made quite a bit of sense to me. My thoughts and opinions change after I’ve come across new ideas, not grow. It’s not that I can’t grow, all rivers can, but I grow so slowly it’s hardly noticeable; I’m always changing.

Life is motion, why then should I be different? I am alive and I am adaptable; change is necessary. Change is how I function.

I am a river, always different, but always the same.