Solstice
Air Force Garden of Remembrance, Stanley Park Contrary to my expectations that springtime has arrived, the temperatures were starting to dip below freezing. Many mornings, I would walk to school under the brilliant sun, yet chilled to the bones with the breezes rustling over the cedars. The chilly winds slowly descend into fluffy flecks of snow, dusting the trees in the backyard with a magnificent pristine coat. Despite the wintry weather, signs of the upcoming spring have begun to unveil. Beneath the snowy cover, buds of cherry blossoms and camellia dangled slowly along with the rhythm of the wind, while the sun lingered on the crisp sky long after I got home from school. From the kitchen window, as I gazed at the fireball of a sun setting behind cedars, flocks of junco chattered on the snowy hills, where the piercing cries of seagulls echoed, breaking the tranquillity of a winter dusk. The end of January was marked by my second Lunar New Year, or Tết , away from Vietnam. We were over...