By Gabby Dessin

As a little girl, the scariest thing in the world to me was flowers. Although they came in different colors, sizes, and designs and were oh so beautiful, I hated how people would say I reminded them of one. What made this comparison so scary is that no matter how well you took care of flowers, they would ultimately die. This idea never sat right with me because how could someone compare me to something that withered away in 12 days? I researched a flower’s life cycle to figure out why they die so fast, hoping that maybe they had a much different life than mine. Their lives consisted of a seed, germination, growth, pollination, and seed dispersal. After researching, I realized that our lives were much more similar than I thought.

A seed: The seed is planted into the soil. Just like a seed, I was born into a mixed-race family. This caused me so much confusion as a young girl trying to decide which part I fit into. Although I had curly hair and caramel skin, I could also have pin-straight hair with the stroke of a flat iron and lighter skin when winter came around. I never knew which part of me to identify myself with because I never learned about my background. 

Germination: Germination is the process of a plant beginning to grow from a seed. My roots began to grow when I was assigned a project where I had to draw meaningful parts of my culture. I had no idea what my culture was, so I asked my parents to explain where I came from. My dad told me that on his dad’s side they came from Haiti, and on his mom’s side, Brazil. My mom told me that her family was from somewhere in Europe. Although I wasn’t able to figure out everything about my culture, I was grateful that I now knew some of my history. 

Growth: Growth is the process of a plant developing and maturing. My mind started to mature when I took a survey at school. The first question was about your race. My teacher told me to put Hispanic to make the percentage go up, but deep down I knew that wasn’t right. At the bottom of the question, it had an option titled “Other.” I clicked it and typed out mixed. I realized that day that I could embrace all of my cultures. 

Pollination: Pollination is when pollen is transferred from one flower to another by insects or the wind. The idea of embracing all of my culture flew out of my mouth and into another person’s ears. Although the idea was very new to me, my best friend, who was mixed, was struggling with something that I had struggled with for such a long time. She opened up to me about which race to embrace. I told her to embrace all of her identity. Just like that, the idea that took me so long to figure out was reborn and given to someone who truly needed it. 

Seed Dispersal: Seed dispersal is the movement or spread of seeds away from their parent plant. Just like a plant in full bloom, I eventually grew up into someone who embraced each and every part of herself. Although it took about 17 years, I made it. I no longer needed my parents to help me figure out who I was because I was happy with who I had become.

Each step of this cycle brought me closer to finding out who I truly am. At the end of the cycle, I realized why flowers die so fast: in order to keep their environment intact, they had to evolve. This made me appreciate and love being compared to a flower, because just like a flower, I evolved and never looked back. 

Gabby Dessin is from Maryland. Fleetwood Mac, one of her favorite artists, wrote a song about her town called “Silver Springs.” She hopes everyone enjoys her work, as she thoroughly enjoyed writing it.