Whenever someone ask me what is my middle name, I usually like them to guess. Once I see that they are about to give up, I offer them a hint. “It starts with the letter E.” Then, they animatedly guess: “Elizabeth, Elena, Emma, Esmeralda, Elsa, Edna…” And to each name that they guess, I reply no. After they have said all of the names that comes to their mind that starts with the letter E, they declared surrender. I offer them one last chance, and give the a helpful hint that as soon as they hear it, they know right away. “In English, it means hope.” And immediately, they say: “Esperanza”. And to that I respond by saying yes. They smile and compliment me by saying that it suits me nicely. I am a person who likes to make sure that everyone around me feels happy and that they are being acknowledged. When I am walking down the street and see someone sad, I look at them and smile. And magically, they smile back. It is the simplest thing one can do to lighten up someone’s day. I try to radiate positivity to others and try to help people see the bright side of things in life.
I would like to think that what gives me that warm happiness feeling stems from nature. I feel very fortunate to live in a city that is a hybrid of parks and man-made neighborhoods. Usually after work, I like to walk around to relax myself by breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the sight of my surroundings. Whenever I see something interesting, such as colorful flowers, intricate houses, or the rich sky, I pull out my phone and start taking pictures. A 10 minutes walk can easily become a 30 or even an hour long walk. I like to enjoy what is front of me and preserve those moments by taking pictures. Later, I go home and edit those pictures to share to my friends and co-workers through my social medias. The subject of my photos are usually flowers and plants. I just love capturing their unique characteristics: color, shape, form, etc. Sometimes, I look at the flower and think what would be the best angle to highlight their personality. For example, I observed a pair of pink tulips that formed a beautiful symmetric star. Or a blossoming rose that is at its prime moment, and I look at it through my camera to get the rose best angle.
Taking pictures of flowers and plants makes me feel hopeful. When winter follows fall, the leaves and flowers disappears. It is a moment of silent and muteness of colors. Slowly, a seedling is sprouting from the ground and the little green sparks hope. With that little hope, spring starts to blossoms and a flowery surroundings starts to emerge. There is beauty everywhere present with nature. In the end, hope is something that you kind find in the most unlikely place, but if you were to take a moment, you can see a light of hope gleaming.
