Free Choice 2: "Budding Future"

This goes with Picture 1 at the bottom of the screen.

I’ve had an orchid plant for two years. These flowers are investments that you have to take care of with more effort than a regular houseplant. This flower is not only sensitive to the amount of water you give it, but also to it’s surrounding temperature and the amount of nitrogen and acids in the soil. The care that is supposed to be given to this plant would be year round, even though there is no flowery yield in the winter.

I was sitting at our kitchen table one springy Sunday morning and I saw a bloom like the one in the picture. The look of the bloom scared me. If you look at it, it looks like the face of a medieval sea-creature with slit-like eyes and a tiny sucking mouth with very sharp teeth. To make the picture look a little more intimidating, I took a picture of the bloom in front of darker glass, messed with the focus, and played around with the colors and sharpness level.

In this picture, I see my fears of the future. I have invested many years in my future. I am a senior in high school who is still debating on which university to attend. I am behind in everything, and I (like most everybody) am unsure about where I am headed. This bud is scary, just as my unknown, ‘unopened’ future is. After all the work I have put into helping this flower, my future, will it start to open? Will it be a pretty blossom? I am sure now, though, that once the bud is open, it won’t be scary at all, and I won’t be able to help but enjoy it. At least, that's how I felt when the orchid bloomed last year.