When the season of purple flowers returns

When the purple flower season returns

12:10:18 - 4/23/2025

I am over 35 years old, no longer the white-uniformed schoolgirl I used to be, nor am I as dreamy as I was in my twenties. Yet, every time summer comes, passing by a road lined with blooming Lagerstroemia trees, my heart beats softly, deeply, like an old habit, like a memory suddenly returning.

I don’t know when the Lagerstroemia flowers start blooming, but I know that around April and May, when the sun becomes harsher, the flowers turn purple all over the sky. When I was a child, I didn’t really pay attention to Lagerstroemia flowers. To me, flowers were just flowers, blooming and fading, nothing special. Occasionally, when I passed by a tree-lined road, I would only see the purple color covering the leaves and falling to the ground. But strangely, even though I didn’t pay attention, I still remember that purple color very clearly, the gentle color, creeping into my mind without me knowing.

Lagerstroemia became more attached to me during my high school years. My school was right next to a long tree-lined road. And of course, there were rows of Lagerstroemia planted on both sides. Every morning on the way to school, my friends and I would often leave early and leisurely cycle through that road. Some days, there was a light breeze, and the clusters of flowers swayed as if waving to each other. Some days, there was a sudden downpour, and the petals fell all over the road, turning the remaining water stains purple. Those moments, though not a big deal, still made me flutter forever.

Time flies. I have been away from that school for nearly twenty years. But every time I meet my old friends, the memories of those days come back very clearly. And strangely enough, almost all of them mention the season of the purple flowers. It was the day we took our graduation photos under the purple trees, it was the time we wrote in each other’s yearbooks, repeating the promises of “never forgetting each other”, it was the hesitant look of a friend I secretly liked, looking at me and then quickly turning away…

The purple color of that year carried with it so many first-life emotions, awkward, shy but extremely pure. I don’t remember clearly what he said to me, I only remember that one time he picked up a branch of Lagerstroemia that had fallen in the schoolyard, then quietly put it in my desk drawer, without saying anything. I didn’t react, just secretly kept that branch of flowers until the flowers withered. Maybe that was the first time I knew what it was like to like someone, to anxiously wait for a glance, a look…

Now, after the excitement of student life, through the joys and sorrows of adulthood, I still smile when I remember that year's purple flower season. Someone once asked me why I don't like roses, orchids or other more luxurious flowers? I just shook my head. To me, purple flowers are not arrogant, not too outstanding, but they are beautiful in a simple, familiar way, like the memories of my youth that I always cherish.

Every time I return to my hometown, I stop by my old school and sit under the purple-flowered Lagerstroemia tree. The tree has grown much taller, its branches and leaves are lush, and the flowers are still as bright purple as before. But everything around has changed. There is no longer the old classroom, no longer the rocky schoolyard. My friends from that year are now all in different places. Some have started families, some are living in other cities, and some I have not been in touch with for a long time. The purple-flowered Lagerstroemia season has passed, but its echoes have never disappeared.

I think everyone in life has a flower to remember, to love. For me, the Lagerstroemia is the flower of memories, of childhood days, of handshakes that have not been given, of farewells that have never been spoken out loud... It reminds me of a time gone by, of myself when I was still naive, innocent and full of hope.

Now, at the age of 35, although I no longer pick flowers to press into my notebook or write a diary about a “special person”, I still often stand still when I see purple flowers blooming on the street. Not because of regret, but because of the peaceful feeling it brings. Amidst the hustle and bustle and pressures of life, sometimes just a glimpse of that purple color is enough to help me feel at ease. And so, I smile softly, as if it were a familiar thing… when the purple flower season returns.

An Nhien

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Source: https://baobinhphuoc.com.vn/news/19/171908/khi-mua-hoa-bang-lang-tro-lai