happyboy

I've started keeping a journal aside from the one I have here. I'm not writing anything down to capture how I felt that day or to keep a record of special moments in my life or really even to lay down my thoughts on paper. I don't want to appear wistful or deep, I just to want regain my composure and nothing more.

The other day, while taking a walk near the building where I work, I looked at the California Poppies that line the block between my company's building and the Discovery Channel offices down the way. Magnificent and simple at that same time. A flat umbrella of vibrant orange supported by a bright green stem with a dash of yellow on top. I can't help but notice them everytime I go by.

I'd like to pick one, I heard once that doing so was illegal being a state flower and all, but a silly thought keeps pulling me aside and momentarily distracting me. A crushed flower, in your journal no less, what an odd keepsake for a man to collect! And then I wonder, why is that? Does being a man mean I can't appreciate such things? Will it make me a pariah in male society? I am confident enough in my hetero-sexuality to forego this concern, but at the same time, I don't understand why that should even matter.

I think I will pick that flower and put it in my journal, I won't be doing it for anyone but myself. Label me what you will, I'm just guy who happens to like a particular flower.