There once was a vase; tarnished and abandoned. It sat on a windowsill in a dark, dusty cellar, with only the spiders and old boxes for company. This little vase was very proud of the beautifully hand painted daisies that hugged its walls, but these daises had long since been etched away and covered with a thick layer of dust. Where flowers used to flourish inside the vase there were only spider webs. The poor vase sat each day lonely and unsure of the day it may tip over the edge of the windowsill and shatter into a million pieces. But miraculously, one day a caretaker arrived. He gingerly picked up the abandoned vase and brought it upstairs. He washed the vase so that it sparkled like new, then he repainted the daisies that had once been so vibrant and cheerful. He then placed the vase on a beautiful mahogany shelf in a bright room in the center of the house and planted seedlings deep down inside its heart. The vase was overjoyed, it had been given a second chance to support and nourish the little flowers which it cared about so much. In fact, it felt that its sole purpose was to provide for these budding flowers. And that is exactly what it did; year after year the vase sat tall on the shelf caring for the young flowers. It taught them how to reach their roots deep down so that they would have the potential to grow into the most beautiful flowers they could be. When they had grown healthy, tall, and brimming with life, the caretaker would remove the flowers and plant them outside, where they could continue their lives and fulfill the dreams that the vase had instilled so deeply in them. Then he would provide the vase with new seeds in need of nurturing. The vase lived the perfect life, living its dream and being provided for by the caretaker. But one night, while the poor thing was sleeping, it was snatched up by the spiders that lived in the cellar. They had missed the vase, for it was the perfect shelter and they enjoyed winding their countless webs inside the depths of its soul. The vase sat again on the windowsill, scared and afraid as the spiders slowly began to hauntingly entrap her with their gossamer threads. But this time, the courageous vase had hope. For she knew now that her beloved caretaker was looking for her and when he found her, he would gingerly pick her up and place her on that beautiful mahogany shelf once again. For she knew she hadn’t been forgotten, just unfairly misplaced, and the caretaker would return to guide her back to safety. And as for the flowers which she nourished, they kept her spirit and memory deep down in their roots so that part of that vase would always be with them. This story is dedicated to Jin, my first grade teacher, whom to this day continues to fight the odds and survive her cancer.
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