The remarkable resilience of a rubber plant

A common rubber plant has been an unobtrusive presence in my family's home for more than three decades. I didn't pay much attention to it until one day I noticed a tiny bud that had emerged from one of the branches to be reaching toward the light. Ever since the moment I realized the rubber plant was a dynamic organism with an intricate life cycle, observing it's growth has been like watch a silent movie unfold at a snail's pace, one frame at a time. Each new bud took between two to four weeks to morph into a fully formed leaf. Each leaf was unique in form and shape and gradually, at unexpected moments, new buds sprouted from the branches between leaves and extended toward the light. Meanwhile, I became increasingly fascinated with the dynamic and shifting patterns of light and shadow that prompted the buds and leaves to extend upward and outward, as well as bend and turn, and gave shape to the rubber plant's intricate living form.