Outside on a comfortable–warm, in fact–February afternoon, chasing the earliest emerged native bees in my garden and with some success, I spied this charming scene:

I like that the seed balances on the slender arm of a Globe mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua, and appears steady and content, perky and upright.

I wonder, though, is it satisfied with the landing?  Afterall, this particular seed is from an American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, and the goal of the wind-driven reproductive morsel is terra firma–which it missed by about 18 inches.  The achene, with attached propelled pappus, was driven from a nearby mature sycamore by puffs or bluffs of wind.  Who knows when the seed landed on the mallow, probably recently, but is it eager to be whooshed by air or washed by rain to the ground for continuation of the adult sycamore’s legacy?

The Globe mallow ignores the seed–it has its own blooming and reproduction to consider.

How many of us land like the seed, or ignore those who land around us?  How does that impact the course of life?

Joining in today with Anna’s  Flutter and Hum and her wonderful Wednesday Vignette.  Please pop over for garden, nature, and other musings.