English Course Assignment 4 - Perfect Day

English Course Assignment 4 - Perfect Day

My Perfect Day

At the mention of a perfect day, I immediately thought of the summer evenings I spent with my grandmother in her backyard fifteen years ago.

To be honest, I don’t think there exists anything that can be called “perfect”. One thing is perfect only if we make it be. Likewise, if I consider a day as perfect, it has some positive influences on my life in profound ways and it may get better and better in my memory as time goes by.

I was in grade school at the time, and my grandmother was still living. She lived in an old-style, two-story house. There was a backyard behind the house, with a lot of beautiful flowers grown in. Everyday I went to my grandmother’s house after school. It was at the hour of the sunset. She always sat on a small stool in the yard watering the plants, while I was dancing about her and talking about what happened at school during the day. Sometimes she made some tea and cake for me, and we sat at the small wooden table under the tree, shooting the breeze. The shadows gradually lengthened as the sun set, and the twilight seemed to be sweet with the smell of lilac and wet earth.

In those years, all the summer days seemed to pass in this way. It is said in Little Prince that one “loves the sunset, when he is really sad.” I love the sunset, but I’m not sad. I love the sunset because it reminds me of the perfect days I spent in the backyard with all the flowers in full blossom. It comforts me a lot in hard times.

At the age of 13, I went to high school in another city, and thus left hometown and my grandmother. When I was about to leave, I went to my grandmother’s home again and sat with her in that backyard. The flowers blossomed as usual. We were talking about the future plans and some domestic matters of little importance, as the twilight merged into darkness. All we saw and did were just a part of everyday life at that time. I didn’t realize then the images of the summer evenings we spent together would have so strong an impression on me in future.

In psychology, “a core pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions, and wishes in the personal unconscious organized around a common theme” is called a complex. It can be either positive or negative. I know that I have a complex about the sunset and the smell of lilac. Until now, when the air is filled with the scent of lilac at sunset in early summer, I can recall the hours I spent in those days.

My grandmother passed away four years ago, the house she once lived in was torn down, and I’ve been away from my hometown for more than ten years. Things have changed. But when I think of those days, I feel happy. I’m greatly appreciated that I have spent the perfect days watching the sunset with my grandmother, which makes every sunset in my life more glorious than it used to be.