들꽃이 아니라 약이구나

I thought the flower above is just another wild flower. It looks nice with its star-shaped petals. What I did not know is that I knew its name all along. The flower is called 도라지 (Chinese Bellflower or Balloon Flower). I first heard of the name when a passage in my textbook wrote about Bibimbap preparation. 도라지, to be specific, its roots is used as an ingredient in Bibimbap. When I checked its Chinese name, the dictionary turned out '桔梗'. Again, I knew '桔梗' for a long time as a Chinese herb that is effective in curing cough.

There are many other occurrences in life that mirrors my encounter with 도라지. There were people whose name I have known for a long time but could not attach an image to. When we finally met, I still couldn't connect the name to the person until some time later. But when I did connect, I suddenly felt this sense of 'happiness'. I guess it was a feeling of déjà vu.