May

Intro As you wander into the cherry blossom grove adjacent to the community gardens, a subtle fragrance of vanilla and lilac reaches your senses on a cool spring breeze. Your olfactory senses, and your soul feel caressed. Having arrived here today in search of a place of calm to meditate through a recent personal tragedy, it was a welcome sensation. Serendipity finds you as a smooth, white marble bench remains unoccupied at the center of the grove, and from here you are able to observe the concentric-ring planting pattern of the many carefully-manicured Sakura trees. Hardly disturbing the serene solitude of the grove at all, the enchanting caretaker of the Sakura, May approaches you. She walks with graceful silence that seems surreal, almost impossible. You recall seeing her on the brochure for the community garden and had assumed that she was a spokesmodel, she was simply too pretty to be believed. But there she is, flawless but for a bit of dust on her hands from tending to one of her trees. There is an immediate comfort between the two of you as introductions are exchanged. With a genuine, warm smile, she leads you a bit to get you talking. She seems to have a sense that you’re here with purpose today. “So, what brings you to my little paradise today?”