Janey Apple Seed.

I love when life does something new and unexpected and I'm there to view it. Even better if it's something small because somehow that seems more of a miracle. Nature had to stop and take time to craft that small moment. Unlike something huge like a tornado that safely deposits people miles from their homes where you come to expect odd things from that kind of tumult and fury.
I was sitting here digging away furiously at tickets when I reached for an apple that had been housed in my lunchbag all weekend. It was still sweet, so I dug in to it as I worked on the massive mound of incoming work requests.
At one point I took a break and looked down to see something I have never encountered before. Small green shoots and roots coming from where I'd accidentally bitten in to the core and torn it wide open.
I picked at the mass of twisted tiny roots and marveled at the split apple seeds sporting bright green cotyledons, tucked in against each other like littermates in the narrow space of the core. The picture is crappy, taken with my cell phone, and doesn't begin to convey the complexity of the roots interweaving with each other.
As I leaned over to peer in and see how entangled they were, a small of green growing things hit my nose. If you have ever stood in a late spring forest after rains have soaked it and gotten a nose full of rotting leaves, bark and ferns, you'll be familiar with this scent. It just screamed life and growth. I was so caught off guard that I just sat there with the apple 4 inches from my face staring at it like a goofball.
I carefully ate the rest around it then snapped it in half and picked out the small seedlings inside. The roots were small and fuzz-covered like I'd seen before with other seeds. Taking a pen cap, I used the little plastic extension to fish the tangles out one at a time until I had the little pile in front of me. There were quite a few of them sprouted!
Why it should be so fascinating I'm not sure. Seeds grow, it's what seeds do. But to find them in the middle of an apple when I presumed it was not done being an apple yet threw me a loop. Then again, what is an apple for if not to provide food for the seeds? There would still be apples even if nothing were there to use them for food.
I just looked down at the group of tiny baby apple trees forcing their way in to the world, then wrapped them up in moist tissues for transport home. Tenacity should be rewarded. I'm going to see if I can grow an apple tree.