White Lights in my Life

By Ralph Umbay

Arabian Jasmine has always been present throughout my life. I noticed the consistent presence of these plants when I was about 13 years old. Around that time, I visited my old house in the Philippines and was going through a pretty rough time with deaths in the family. As I reflected on the people I’ve had lost, I started appreciating everything around me more and more. One day when I was walking back from the park where I went to play basketball with my cousins I took a path home that was surrounded by Arabian jasmines, making the path look like it was completely engulfed in a sea of white. It might have been my mind racing due to many things occupying it at the time but there was something about that path I took that made me feel a different way about that plant. Since then, Arabian jasmines have been present in some of the highest and lowest points of my life. In some of my lowest points I would see them as I walked through a store or while at my church. At my highest points they would somehow make their way back into my life through gifts or other coincidences. There has always been something about Arabian jasmines that has fascinated me mostly because of the timing of their emergence in my life. I feel like they’ve played a part in my mental maturity and fortitude throughout the years due to their way of giving me a certain fortitude and strength during the harder parts of my life and even more happiness during the best points of my life.

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Ralph is a 20 year old junior at Florida International University. He is currently a Biology major on the pre-med track with some interest in pre-dental. He lives in Miami, Florida.

Photo Credit: Habib M'henni on Wikimedia Commons.