One of my favorite things about spring is the arrival of cherry blossoms. Though I have yet to see them in all their glory in Japan, I have been fortunate to witness festivals in both DC and Berlin.
Berlin, in particular, stands out in that spring takes on a new meaning in a city that is home to such dark, cold winters. This was also during the pandemic, after weeks of spending time alone at home, and the signs of spring, at the time, felt like a promise of some hope on the horizon.
Coming to Berlin, I had no idea about the history of cherry blossoms in the city. Japan, upon word of the Wall coming down, came together as a country and donated trees to be planted along where the wall once stood.
With the city warming up, I was hard-pressed to finally get out of the house and make the most of whatever time left I had to spend in Europe. Practically everything was shut down but parks and grocery stores, so my search for something to do led me to discover that mid-April to early-May is a wonderful time to enjoy cherry blossoms around the city. I remember spontaneously leaping up out of my self-loathing in bed midday and promptly deciding to go to Teltow, where the trees were already in bloom. While I was literally on the train there I thought how nice it would be to share the experience with someone. I texted my friend Tati because I knew there’d be no one else who could miraculously be ready to go in the blink of an eye.
Upon linking up and transferring to a bus from the Berlin-Lichterfelde station, I found myself on my phone in class on Zoom, a regular occurrence throughout my experience with online school. Somehow, I could still find a way to stay engaged and respond at the drop of a dime; something I imagine as being super random for passersby.
We arrived to a sight that made both of us stop in our tracks. The trees stretched out in two rows, as far as the eye could see. It was quite a sight for other reasons as well. How strange it is for all of us to be brought together by such beauty that we could see and simultaneously pushed away from one another by a virus that escaped visual detection.
This day, like so many days in Berlin, was special. I realize now that we made it happen, deciding to make the most of circumstances that were less than ideal. We chose to look beyond the obvious, debilitating uncertainties of the present and looked instead to the life around us. Spring, magically, set the stage for all of this, and for that, I am so grateful!
