Daughter’s First Lotus Flower

It was a day in Summer. My mother went to the countryside in the early morning for some business. When she came back it was mid-afternoon.


I was standing at one end of the alley of our house, gazing at a pond, where a lot of duckweeds floated. I saw my mother at once when she showed up from another end. She didn’t ride her bicycle, so she must have taken the bus and walked. She was wearing her floral blouse, black pants and her straw hat, just like she did on most of her Summer days. She was holding something in her hand; when she drew closer, I saw it was a lotus flower! 



My mother saw me too, she excitedly waved her other hand at me. I ran to her immediately and took the lotus. It was a blooming large lotus with its three-foot-long stem; all the petals were pink at the tips and gradually turned into white at the ends. They were so thin and semitransparent-- as if they were made from silk; each meridian in the petals could be seen clearly, which added more texture and beauty to the lotus. But the core was still hidden tightly by some central petals, so I couldn’t see its inside pollen and lotus head. It needed a few more days to fully open.


I asked my mother where she got it; she simply told that she saw a lotus pond near her friend’s house where she lunched, and the flowers were in bloom beautifully. She thought I would have liked very much to see it too. So, with her friend’s help she finally picked one.


My mother turned into our house and left me standing in the alley with the lotus. It was my mother--Who made a lot of effort to get this flower just because she thought her daughter would like it. I couldn’t imagine on such a hot day, how my mother managed on her whole way home to protect the flower from getting wrinkled, dried, burnt, or robbed; the one hour’s bus to the countryside was always crowded and bumpy; the countryside roads were dusty and exposed under the sun without any shade. She must have had to walk on foot in the burning dust, facing the hot noon sun and covering her flower carefully with her straw hat. 


Was the short joyful moment of her daughter brought about by the lotus really worth the struggles and efforts which she had to make? Did the passengers in the bus automatically try to keep some small distance from touching the flower so it could keep its delicate beauty


That Summer day, I had my first lotus flower.

                                                                                                                                        5/27/2020


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