I pulled over on my way to school today to take pictures of the most beautiful pink dogwood.

Standing close to the trunk of an immense pale pink tree is a very odd moment of pure beauty: the sun–which a moment ago was merely that which had made my car so hot–creates such beautiful shadows and depth within the branches; the breeze–rather than merely constantly blowing my hair into my eyes– made everything shift and rustle; the proliferation of pink blooms is so sharply outlined against a brilliant blue sky… it’s overwhelming and little unsettling.

I would have liked to stay there for hours, staring up, entranced, at the shifting branches. But alas, that wasn’t exactly on my agenda.

Nonetheless, this moment of unanticipated and overwhelming beauty just made my day.