Everyone has a unique way they communicate, and sometimes, our best form of communication is not speaking. It may be a talent, such as painting, playing an instrument, poetry, or another form of expression.
I will be the first to admit that I have a history of keeping my feelings in. Although I have found that talking is “good,” sometimes I just don’t want to talk. I would rather write about it, and place a story behind it; this way I can go back and read to understand myself better. This is my own little form of entertainment, and I know I can use it whenever I feel like I need to tell myself something. In this case, I wrote a story about a life experience and told it through the form of flowers. Flowers are often a symbol of brightness and positivity, and that is how I remind myself that there is a light in everything we do, we just need to find it.
The story reads:
It was a quiet day, enough to hear a bee drip honey from its hive. A boy, young and curious, wandered into his backyard. His mother was planting in her garden, which fascinated him, as the garden was like a rainbow expressing itself through rows of flowers. He loved to look at all the different vegetables and fruits and was intrigued by the idea that so many things could grow from such tiny seeds.
When the boy noticed the basket in front of him was filled with leftover seeds, he asked his mother, “Can I plant some of those?”
She looked at him, smiled, and said, “Yes, but you must know that all of these seeds are different, meaning different flowers will grow, but together the seeds will create something magnificent.”
The boy picked up a handful of seeds, sprinkled them around the grass, and watered them.
A couple of weeks later, the bud of a flower appeared. It was purple, and it loved the warmth of the sun. This bud grew into not one flower, but many flowers, and became what’s known as a lilac. It was so aesthetically pleasing that one could not help but stare at it. Around the same time the lilac grew, another flower appeared; this one by itself and shied away from the sun. This flower became a rose.
Although roses tend to grow on bushes, this one was special. It was dainty, incredibly red, and beautiful. The rose was unfamiliar with the sunlight, but with a little help from the lilac, it learned to adore the sun.
The lilac and the rose became inseparable. They used their differences to learn more about the world: the grass, the seeds, the water. The pushed each other to become stronger and grow stems that no one could break, not even a lawn mower with the sharpest blade.
What made the story of the rose and the lilac so great is that they shared something special; they shared the same roots but bloomed from different seeds. And while the rose was attracted to the lilac for its brightening qualities, the lilac admired the rose for its discipline.
One day, a storm came. Rain poured so heavily that the dirt on the ground flooded. Tree branches were torn, gardens were destroyed. The roots holding the rose and the lilac started to break apart. Though they wanted to hold on, they couldn’t, and they broke away to grow on their own.
Soon after the flood, the two flowers realized that even though they were no longer connected by their roots, they were not far apart. The rose learned that it was okay not to be perfect, while the lilac learned to become more reliant on itself than the rose. When the sun came out, they would both look at it and think of each other.
The boy walked outside to find his beautiful flower creation separated. His mom followed behind him, and when she noticed the damage, she said, “I’m so sorry, I know how hard you worked to create such a beautiful spot in the garden,” she said.
“I did,” the boy said, “But I’m not sad, I know they will grow and find their way back to each other.”
And with a few storms, many moments of sunlight, and time to grow on their own, they found each other again. The difference between this time and the first time is the distance between the roots. The rose and the lilac agreed that although they once shared the same roots, they no longer needed to in order to rebuild what they had. Because at the end of the day it wasn’t about the roots, it’s what they gained from sharing them.