Rooted In Love

A Short Story by Heather E. Daly

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who saw the world through colors no one else seemed to notice. She sang to the trees, spoke to the wind, and danced in ways that made her mother frown. Her mother, who valued order and appearance, often told her, “That’s not how a proper young lady behaves.”

So the little girl tried—oh, how she tried—to fit herself into the tidy box her mother had built for her. She folded her wings, quieted her laughter, and learned the careful art of pleasing others. But every time she tucked away her light, a small ache grew inside—a whisper of something true that refused to die.

As the years passed, the little girl realized something tender and painful all at once: her mother might never see her for who she truly was. The dream of being fully accepted by the one she loved most began to crumble. One day, after a particularly sharp word that left her trembling, she ran to her favorite hiding place beneath an old oak tree. There, surrounded by fallen leaves and the hum of life, she closed her eyes and listened.

In the quiet, she heard it—the still, small voice within:
“You are beautiful, exactly as you are.”

That moment changed everything.
The little girl felt warmth spread through her chest, as if sunlight had found its way inside. It wasn’t the love she had longed to receive—it was deeper, steadier, more enduring. It came from within her own heart.

From that day forward, she began to tend that inner place as though it were a garden—watering it with kindness, pulling the weeds of self-doubt, and planting seeds of gentleness and truth. Whenever the world was unkind, she would return there, barefoot on the soft soil of her soul, and remember that she was already whole.

Seasons passed, and the path to her inner garden became easier to find. The flowers there grew stronger—wild roses of courage, ivy of resilience, lavender of peace. Even her mother’s harshness began to soften in her heart, no longer as a wound but as a teacher. For without that pain, she might never have learned where to turn for love.

Her garden still thrives, reminding her each day that self-love is the soil from which all beautiful things grow.