I took this picture this morning in Portland. I love sunflowers.

In Italy, I saw fields of what would have been sunflowers had we been there a month earlier. Though I saw only rows of hacked brown stalks, I could imagine the fields in full bloom. How stunning they must have been. I drove by dozens of fields, smiling at what had previously been there and what I knew would be there again some day.

I wish I could see as clearly the beauty in people, both others and myself. Sometimes I see only hacked brown stalks, and I wonder if the beauty was ever even there. Would it return? Or is the empty field all that remains?

I looked again at my first photo and realized that I was standing in shade and needed a bit more sun behind me. So I took one step to the right and tried again from a different angle.

They’re beautiful, aren’t they?