The haden mango tree in our back yard was planted the year I was born.

I just ran across a photo taken toward the end of its first decade. I scanned the photo years ago and promptly forgot about it, but it turned up in an archive I’ve been reviewing.

You can see the somewhat spindly mango tree on the left in the first photo below as I’m mowing the the lawn near it.

In the intervening years, I’ve gotten a lot wiser and a bit older.

But the tree!! It growth over nearly eight decades is much more dramatic, in my view at least.

It’s canopy is now so large and dense that it’s difficult for grass to grow under there, so we replanted the area which more shade tolerant varieties. And we replaced my parents old ground level lanai with a deck at the same level as the house.

I tried to use the wonder of Photoshop to drop my young self into a photo with the mature tree.

The results follow.

Then….

And now….

In some ways it’s weird to be back in the space I grew up in. In other ways it feels totally natural. But in moments like this, it’s really hard to wrap my mind around the passage of time.

I’m fortunate that both the tree and I have survived so long.