A Forgotten Flower
Today, I found a flower. When I saw it, I felt my face light up, and a moment of nostalgia overcame me. I recognized this flower. How? Well, it was not the first time I had crossed paths with it. It was not the first time I had seen it or touched it. In fact, it came into my life months ago when I was halfway across the world. I can’t believe I had forgotten about this little flower! How did I not realize that it flew in the sky with me for over 5,000 miles?
Looking at it now, it is dried out, brittle, and flattened from its long journey tucked within the pages of my journal that accompanied me during my travels across the Emerald Isle. But it was beautiful and feminine and light pink when that Irishman gifted it to me back in Dublin.
I love this little flower. To me, it symbolizes little moments of my travels, not just in Dublin, but throughout the whole of Ireland. However, this flower particularly reminds me of that city. It reminds me of when I ran around Dublin in the middle of the night with my newfound Irish friend, how we climbed that statue in the city center, how we sat up there after a night of drinking at the pubs, and how I cried on his shoulder telling him, “I don’t want to go back to California. Please don’t make me go back!”
This little flower reminds me of the bullet holes that my Irish friend showed me from the historic 1916 uprising, still seen in the pillars in front of the doors to the General Post Office. Although I’m not Irish, I remember feeling strangely sentimental looking at those bullet holes.
This little flower reminds me of walking to the outskirts of the city, grabbing a couple of solo cups, and drinking vodka while we walked on the sidewalk, immersed in conversation — the type of conversation that makes hours feel like minutes, until you suddenly realize that the sun is coming up.
It’s amazing to think how something so little, something so fragile, something so shriveled up and now as grey as this flower that I had forgotten was tucked away in my journal, can stir up such fond and friendly memories.