I am bombarded with Birkenstocks. I’ve only recently come to like them. I saw a documentary on the company right before traveling to the US in September. What I remembered most was the CEO saying he neither wanted, nor needed celebrity endorsements. He was confident in their product. The airline lost our luggage, and I was in need of a pair of shoes. So I tried my first pair. And I loved them. People can change.

I looked online to find some for my husband. With one look, I have been pegged. Now all I receive are Birkenstock ads. Over and over and over. But that’s what the internet does. The slightest movement and you are forever tagged as that kind of person. And that’s one thing for a computer. I can let that go. But it got me thinking, do we do that as humans? To each other? I’m so afraid that we do.

I know for certain that I am not the same person I was at 14, or 17. I’m really not even the same person that I was last month. Life changes. We change. With any luck, a bit of grace, for the better. And I want people to see it. Of course we all do. But I am just as guilty as the next person…seeing someone that I went to high school with, and still thinking of them as they were, the jock, the brain, the stoner… But I don’t want to be stuck there, so why would I, should I, want to hinder the growth of others? We all need the chance to grow. To wander. To learn. To become. Every day.

As I scroll through the morning ads, I smile. I, we, are not stuck. We are not trapped. We are not one thing. We are allowed to change our shoes, our minds, even our hearts. We are allowed to grow. Welcome to the garden.