Watermarks Flower Fields and Fleeting Changes by Lynda Trinh

It's amazing how some things can change so quickly in life. Sometimes one might wonder if the changes are brought about as a test to keep oneself on his or her toes. At other times, one might wonder if the changes are rendered to see if a particular lesson can be learned. Whether these changes happen gradually or within the blink of an eye, they affect everyone one way or another, as I have learned by this single observation.

There is a particular field of tall grass that can be found by Highway 17 that leads to Hilton Head Island on summer weekends. A few years back, it seemed like any other common field of grass, the kind that one might see in an old television show like The Little House on the Prairie, a field in which the sun always shines brightly and the birds chirp merrily as they are safely perched in nearby trees. A small unoccupied shack sitting in the corner of the meadow's edge looked a though it had been there for quite a while already, with its rotting wooden siding and old dusty glass windows. An aged oak tree stood majestically among the lush green blades of grass that reached a little higher than my knee. We noticed this place more than any other because it seemed to be one of the only lonely fields among the tall trees that stretched for miles at a time along the highway.

Towards the middle of June in 1998, while passing by on our usual journey, we noticed something drastically different about this field. My two sisters and I were entertaining ourselves with books and the Tetris video game on our Nintendo Gameboys, activities we normally did to pass the time during our trips, while my brother drove. Our favorite Vietnamese music was playing powerfully in the CD player. My eyes gazed up from my book every now and then just to catch glimpses of what was passing by through the window. The view rarely differed: trees surrounded the long winding highway on each side like two great green walls that led the way to a castle. They reminded me of Wonderland and the labyrinth made of tall bushes that led Alice towards the Queen's castle. They towered high over everything, leaving only enough space to see the sky above us and other traveling cars ahead of us. The faster my brother drove, the more the trees began to look like a long, dark green blur. However, once every fifteen miles or so, the blur would gradually thin out to reveal a field.

My eyes caught the view of that certain place now filled with bright yellow flowers. The sight was awesome; I was amazed. It was such a beautifully surprising view. My siblings and I asked each other, "Wasn't that place filled with just grass last time?" It had only been two days since we had passed by that clearing. My siblings and I were in sheer wonderment. In what seemed like a few minutes, however, the grassland was covered again by the extended, green blur of trees as my brother drove past the area. I thought with a short-lived feeling of regret that he was going to drive onward to our destination.

In the next few minutes, though, I found that he was preparing to find an area where he could turn the car around to go back to the field. I realized, as well as my brother and sisters did, that we were thinking the same thing: We all wanted to go back to see that place. It felt like we were talking to each other without speaking words. I was surprised because this was a unique feeling that my siblings and I shared; we understood each other, and the way we were feeling became a strong bond between the four of us. When we were together, which was often considering that we are siblings, we had never felt this way before. I cannot remember another time when this bond became so powerful or apparent.

My brother had his camera ready by the time he parked the car on the side of the road. He was studying to become a photographer at that time, and he liked to take pictures whenever an event moved him. We got out of the car and walked around in the flowery fields to enjoy the extraordinary view and to take pictures to remember this great place. The sun was shining as though it did not have a care in the world, and every once in a while a gentle breeze would sweep through the countless groups of flowers.

I remember gazing and thinking about how striking it was. The leaves on the oak tree would sway in the same all-embracing motion as the flowers below them when the wind blew. It is places like these that I look forward to seeing at least one time in life, because they are beautiful and real. Nothing or no-one from nowhere could touch the naturalness of this place. I have always dreamed of sitting in the middle of a great field of flowers, and that dream finally came true.

I looked at my brother and my sisters, who looked back at me and nodded with me. Could it be possible that they were feeling the same way that I did? Once again, I could feel that bond between us strengthen. We smiled at each other while indulging in this rare show of nature's beauty. I thought to myself, "I can share these feelings with my siblings because they are here with me. A place like this is one that I will never forget."

We didn't take much longer than half an hour to use the entire roll of film. We decided to leave the beautiful flower-filled land and go to our aunt's and uncle's home as we had intended. It was certain, though, that we would return the next week with our parents to show them and to take more pictures at the extravagant meadow with them as well. We wanted our parents to see what we had seen.

Yet when we came back to the field that following week, to our great disappointment, the flowers were gone, and the grass resumed the same appearance that it had as though the flowers were never there to begin with. My siblings and I were certain that it was the same field; the lone oak tree still stood boldly in the middle of the field, yet the flowers were missing. It was an odd phenomenon; for every year since then, the grass remains the same; and I have not seen the flowers bloom again whenever my family and I traverse to my aunt's home. I do not think they will ever bloom again‹ever, for reasons unknown.

And this thought has made me come to realize that my siblings and I, for a short moment in time, were given the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful sight of the flower field, and in essence, something great that will perhaps never be given to us again. We were able to experience nature at one of its best times, which is probably something that not enough people are allowed to do, or are lucky enough to realize and take. If we hadn't gone back to that special place on the first day that we saw it when the flowers were in bloom, we might never have had the chance to enjoy the sight of that wonderful field.

I felt especially lucky for having feelings that my siblings and I shared; those feelings are especially something that I will remember and treasure. I know that my siblings feel the same way about that place and how the four of us were able to experience it together. It made me think about taking things for granted because, for one minute, a special experience could be there, but the next minute, it could very well be gone. It's really incredible how that sort of change could be a lesson to be learned.

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