Can you tell I got sucked into watching Cast Away last night? I blame the pizza and Newcastle as well. That, and S.Rod was away visiting a friend so she wasn’t watching one of the many versions of Jane Austen movies for the 329th time.

Anyway, Tom Hanks finally gets back to civilization, and his FedEx co-worker says to Hanks after a welcome-back party, “Tomorrow, we’re going to bring you back to life!” At the time, Hanks seems only mildly interested. Of course, being the distracted viewer that I am, I got lost in a thought tangent right then— wondering if I will ever have a day where I am brought back to life.

Of course, unless you’re reading this blog entry posthumously, then you may think that I’m not making sense. No, I’m not referring to the Sarah Connor T2 adage of ‘We’re already dead’ either (although as you can tell, it did cross my mind). The truth is that I often feel like I’m not really living as I was intended to do, that the string of poor decisions I’ve made in life have doomed me to a mundane existence. I believe there are a great many people out there who share this opinion.

Thus, it made me wonder if I will have such a day, one where “I am brought back to life”. The hope is yes, and I’m fairly convinced this will be a day of my own devise, one that I will make happen. It’s just a question of when. One thing I have learned is that you cannot force things to happen, but if you keep working towards the day when that opportunity presents itself, then you can finally start living. Cheers.

Back in June 2005, I wrote a post titled An Orange of Destiny that chronicled the hope and despair of a little orange tree that was brought from Florida to New York. While the post itself sought a happy ending, reality did not and the tree was dead three months later.

In the post, the giver of the tree (myself) assured the receiver (S.Rod) that I’d get another one on my annual business trip to Florida if the tree died. However, in May 2006, I changed jobs and that opportunity to get another tree from Florida was gone.

So fast-forward to Janaury 2007, and I was searching for a birthday gift with a narrative quality for the lovely Ms. S.Rod. I recalled my pledged assurance and decided to cash it in. I visited the sales site for the company Smith & Hawken and after some deliberation decided to purchase a Kaffir Lime tree (also known as a “kieffer” variety for all you 24 fans out there). To my surprise, the tree arrived via UPS Ground in a couple of days— totally intact, in good shape, and by some stroke of luck, on an unseasonal 60 degree day before the recent cold spell hit.

Of course, S.Rod and I have been tasked with keeping the tree healthy and fluorishing indoors, where temperatures near windows are low, and sunlight is scarce. So aside from the recommended 30-10-10 fertilizer, we sealed the windows from drafts with plastic sealant and have a strong dual incandescent-fluorescent lamp overtop.

Granted, we got the lime tree at a much later stage than the orange, so it should prove heartier in its resistance to external forces. But it is the only other sign of life in our apartment (where pets aren’t allowed and we’re not ready or certain we want kids), so keeping it alive is a prime responsibility. Indeed, a little tree is a good place to start in the chain of responsibility. Let’s just hope that we learned our lesson from its predecessor. Cheers.

Click here for the uncropped hi-resolution version.