Everyone has a lesson that they learn. A prayer that they preach. A song that they sing. The other day, something quite funny happened. In fact, so funny that it became a lesson my brain would send to my feet from now on when I walk past that strong plant. It was now a past problem that I didn’t have to worry about running into again. Literally.

    It had been a long day of focusing at school and my mind was craving recreation. My fingers scrolled through Instagram as I walked towards my house through my yard, while at the same time, my brain was sending messages to my feet; the coast was clear for safe traveling. Everything was good.

    My thumb touched a pretty picture provided by National Geographic which stopped my scrolling and as I focused on that one picture, I examined its exotic beauty. I double tapped it to show the corporation that I liked their creative ideas for places to visit. In my mind, making plans for a future trip to the destination held right under my finger, yet it felt so far away. Seriously, it was on the other side of the world. “Maybe I’ll go there after high school,” I told myself.

    By this time, I was content. My nerves were finally settling from the day. The air was perfect, the sun was just above the horizon and colors were bursting through the clouds. With every breath I let go of, fresh oxygen spread through my body, keeping my soul alive. With each of these new breaths, my mind subconsciously remembered and realized facts. Finally, my brain sensed something and forced my eyes to look above the screen in front of my face. I saw a figure almost six inches away from. I didn’t come to full capacitate knowledge of what had almost happened, but there it was. Right in front of me. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that I had finally figured it out.

    Seven years and some months ago, I was sitting at the lunch table in the food building at the zoo. It was a beautiful early afternoon. Time spent with the family was never taken for granted. After a delicious, greasy and fatty meal, we were on our way out the building towards a place that we were trying to locate. I asked for the map that my family was surrounding and pointing at. Gladly, they gave it to me as they walked ahead a few feet to get a better look at the pathway directions.

    The map was huge. Well, compared to my four and a half feet of height with ninety pounds weighing on me, it was. The map, if stretched all the way out, reached from one length of my arm stretched out to the other. As I held it right in front of my face, I was blinded. I trusted my brain, though, as I always did to navigate any possible interferences with my walk way. Plus, I looked down every minute or so to be extra cautious.

    I was getting more frustrated as the place we wanted to go, wasn’t on the map from what I saw. More focused, more determined now to prove to my older sister that I was better than her and that I could find it, my mind was forced to forget about my feet and aid my intelligence, just a little, so I could get what I wanted. Yes! I think I had found the place we were looking for. Oh, this was good! This was my moment to brag that being the youngest in the family didn’t have jack to do with my ability to be just as good as anybody else!

    Bang! A loud noise echoed through the outside of the food court. My eyes squinted shut and my hands came in front of my face. A delayed reaction that my instincts blamed on the one place that controls them. The brain.

Instantly I put the map down and looked up with pulses of pain going through my head to find a huge white pillar in front of me. I didn’t know how to react, it hit me so fast. I saw my family turn around with confusion written all over their face.

Then I started hearing my sister laughing as she got closer. My mom was worried at first but then started saying things like, “Leanna, you freak!” After a couple of minutes of realization, some laughs started to come from me. It was funny and to this day it still is, and always will serve to prove a point.

So as I was walking through my yard, looking at National Geographic pictures on my phone, a memory of that day at the zoo popped into my mind as my hands came up to guard my face. I’d almost done it again! Right in front of me was the plant that had been there in that spot for my whole time living here. It was now at this moment that it decided to present itself as existent instead of me ignoring it all the time, like I used to.

I giggled a little at the memory and with a smile on my face, I walked around the tree with confidence. Every time I walk past that tree, that memory comes to mind and I instinctively avoid that tree, but I do acknowledge its presence now. Thank goodness it was only a problem that I almost ran into.