“So I thought， a sign， what could it be？ And it seemed it was the flower that had to go. But I’ll miss it， and what it represents.”
Her hazel eyes gazed off in recollection as she continued. “I was so lucky to have had her.” Her voice trailed off and she met my eyes again， then smiled sadly. “But I don’t need to wear a flower to be reminded of these things. I really do know that. It was just an outward sign of my treasured memories—they’re still there even with the flower gone...but still， I will miss it...Oh， here’s the project. I hope it meets with your approval.” She handed me the neatly prepared folder， signed with a hand-drawn flower， her signature trademark， below her name.
That day I knew that the flower this young woman wore in her hair was symbolic of her outpouring of love—a way for her to stay connected to the young mother she had lost when she herself was a young girl.
I looked over the project she had completed， and felt honored that it had been treated by one with such depth and capacity for feeling. No wonder her work was consistently excellent. She lived in her heart daily. And caused me to revisit mine.
她總是在頭發上別一朵花兒，一直如此。大多數時候，我都覺得這看起來有些怪怪的。大白天戴朵花？去上班？參加專業會議？她是一名有抱負的平麵造型設計師，在我工作的寬大、繁忙的辦公室裏上班。每天，她都會輕盈地步入這間格外現代和明淨的辦公室，披肩秀發上別著一朵花，花色通常與她的套裝搭配，別在她那濃密的深褐色卷發上，就像一把鮮豔的小陽傘。有些時候，像公司的聖誕節聚會，花兒增添喜慶的氣氛，看起來很合宜。但是，帶著花兒來上班就有些不妥當了。對此，辦公室裏一些更具“職業意識”的女性格外憤慨，她們認為有人應該把她叫到一邊，告訴她在商界“嚴肅認真”的“規矩”。我們當中另外一些人，包括我在內，則認為這是一種怪癖。