As we went on what had to be our hundredth family walk of quarantine, I kept my eyes peeled for something to take a picture of. Although we had walked this path many times over the past few weeks, something that I had not noticed before caught my eye: a patch of bright yellow flowers. As I took the picture, I admired its beauty. Although the grass around the flowers was overgrown, the vibrant color still peeked through. I was able to later identify these flowers as wintercress.
Usually on these walks I sulk about having nothing to do. But while I was thinking about all of the things that I was missing, I was not paying attention to the things that were available to me. I hadn’t taken the time to discover the everyday beauties that surrounded me.
It is very easy to appreciate nature on a large scale; I easily find beauty in the snow-covered hills of Utah or the desert sunsets of Arizona. However, I don’t often take the time to appreciate the nature that surrounds me. So much is overlooked in my daily life, and it was very nice to have to stop and look around for it. It made me realize that I do not have to go far to pick out something beautiful. If nothing else, it will give me something to look for on our endless family walks.
-Katie Graboski
English 110 Honors Spring 2020 
Your writing always inspires me with how you talk about appreciating the small things or not taking things for granted. It constantly reminds me to self-reflect on my situation and appreciate the position I’m in. Your comment on how the macroscopic view, the scenery, is extremely relatable. Like many, I’ll just take a cursory glance at my environment to determine if I think the day looks nice or not. ‘I do not have to go far to pick out something beautiful’. Beauty is everywhere. I don’t know why but that also reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Dumbledore, ‘Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times, but only to those who remember to turn on the light.’
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Hi Katie, I hope you are well.
I thought your post was very eloquent and illustrative. In particular, I really loved how you highlight the notion that beauty is ALWAYS around you. No matter what’s going on, be that a pandemic, a zombie apocalypse, or intergalactic colonization by amorphous alien blobs, beauty is hardwired into life. I love how that idea seeps through you’re writing. What I think is difficult, as others might agree, is its not always easy to see that beauty. Especially during times such as this. It takes a certain amount of effort, sometimes, to be able to see beautiful things during challenging times. But, once you are able to do so, it enriches your life greatly. And clearly, you’ve figured that out!!!!
Best wishes, Katie!
Keep on’ seeing the beauty.
Neil Baker
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I really enjoyed the theme of your post. Beauty can be found in places where we least expect it. You said you overlooked these flowers while going on your family walk because it was surrounded by overgrown grass and weeds. However, despite that flower being surrounded by that, it still showed its beauty to the world. I think that flower gave your post an even deeper meaning and a lesson relevant to the time we are living in today. We are surrounded by sad events everyday, especially now with the virus, but yet we should still try our best to be that flower to our society. The large scale beauty of nature is awesome but sometimes the little things hold even more beauty. I really liked the positive ending with being able to look forward to something on the walks that once were just taken for something else to do besides stay inside. Great post!
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