It’s always wonderful to return home after some time away, and yet a teensy bit of me is always wondering what has gone astray in my absence. This time, all seemed well, until I came upon a weird folded-up leaf on one of my bushes. Usually this is not the best discovery, as it means something creepy has decided to make the leaf its home.

I gently peeked inside the folds, and found a nut! My very first hazelnut, to be precise. Everyone knows the old saying that you plant nuts not for the next generation, but for the one after that. Let’s just say, between the deer and the winters and my own laissez-faire approach to caretaking, these nuts have been a long time coming. 

I’ve been noticing a lot of nuts lately – from scientists to analysts to business leaders, people who have worked towards a worthy vision for years, refusing to compromise the integrity and beauty of their work even as all around them others were taking shortcuts in the name of efficiency or user-friendliness or monetization. Whether it’s compute power or economic alignment or social ethos or mystical wherewithal, the stars are finally aligning.

Somehow, slowly but suddenly, nuts are everywhere.

Long may we flourish.