On a rainy morning, I opened this little book.

With the sunflowers flowing backward, I was drawn into Lily’s journey, unfolding in an unknown town surrounded by nature, like the opening of a Ghibli tale.

Page by page, I felt as if I were standing alongside her in the garden, inhaling the air mixed with the scent of plants, feeling the texture of earth and roots in my hands, the wind blowing away my sweat, and hearing the laughter around a cozy table as the sun went down.

Lily’s experience is unfamiliar to those living in a concrete city, yet it feels so nostalgic. Perhaps it connects to our childhood memories of playing on the ground, or even to something deep-seated about nature within human souls, from some long-forgotten memories thousands of years ago.

“The empty plates like your paintings” is one of my favorite parts. Art is always around us; we don’t need to run to the other end of the world to look for it. However, sometimes it’s difficult to realize in our ordinary lives. This is why we leave our original selves behind, traveling into somewhere unknown, to look back on where we came from, and rediscover the beauty and love around us.

Traveling or staying in a place as a stranger is a magical thing. It continuously raises questions about who we are, our connection to the earth, and our relationships with others. It could have many answers.

Lily shares the gems she discovered on her path: “Being true, being kind.”

Holding this gem in my hand, I can feel courageous to step outside and connect with the world. I closed the book and looked outside the window. The rain was still falling, as is Lily’s journey, and ours.

Kei / Photographer / (Instagram: @kei.yw)