Rachel Holt

Me on the beach at Holland taking my senior photos.

Vibrant wildflowers cascade across the field, blending in with the tall green grasses.

The wind is gently weaving through her dark brown hair as her fingers trace the yellow and purple petals. 

She timidly walks forward with no destination in mind as the soft earth cushions her calloused soles. 

In this moment, she is lost.

She has no sense of direction, no sense in moving forward. Yet, she continues to do just that. She is curious. She is entranced by the view she has been waiting for her entire life, but she still has no recollection of how she ended up here.

This is a journey she began much earlier in her life, back when she still did not know how to tie her shoes. Back then, assistance was handed to her on a silver platter, and she always had a hand to hold when she was frightened. 

Back then, she ran forward without any hesitation; she never even looked back once. She was thrilled to reach the field of wildflowers. Why? She hadn’t a single clue.

To her, it was the most beautiful sight anyone could ever experience in their lifetime. She needed to see the field of wildflowers as soon as possible, so she did everything in her power to arrive much quicker.

Now she is here, and somewhere along the way, her hand stopped being held, and directions were no longer served to her on a silver platter.

And she cannot remember how she reached her destination.

She looks around her, hoping to find some other sort of life, but the field of wildflowers is completely desolate.

In this moment, she is alone.

In her midst, however, she spots a marvelous tree adorned in pink and white apple blossoms. Its leaves gently flutter as the wind kindly greets it. Intrigued, alone, and still lost, she has no other thought in her mind other than to walk toward the apple blossom tree. 

She doesn’t know what is so alluring about this tree, but the sweet smell of the pollen laced within the blossoms is pulling her closer and closer. 

Before she knows it, she is running. She doesn’t know why she is, but her feet are moving so quickly that she can hardly keep up with herself. She doesn’t want to run, she doesn’t want to go to the tree, but she simply cannot stop running.

Suddenly, as quickly as she began running, she came to an abrupt stop. She looks down disapprovingly at her feet for disobeying her and sees thick roots weaving through the ground. She slowly brings her eyes up to find a deep brown tree trunk branching off into little branches adorned with apple blossoms.

With a tingle of curious apprehension, she feels her hand reaching for the velvety petals. Since she began this journey so many years ago, she has never stopped wondering. However, the actions of her inquiring mind have resulted in many consequences—she never wanted to reach the apple blossom tree so quickly, but this ending is inevitable.

Her imagination will never cease to influence her decisions. That’s why there is no other option but to pick an apple blossom off of the ominous tree.

In this moment, everything changed.

Like the wildflowers in the field she yearned to discover, she bloomed.

Like the sun that beams down on her face and kisses her cheeks, she shines.

Like the leaves that get swept away by the gentle breeze, she floats.

In this moment, she enters a new age.