December 31, 2022

A Simple Fire Pit

She spent one serene, rainy night sitting by a fire pit. It was on a whim. There was no expectation whatsoever from the agenda, except from being able to just stare blankly into the flame and let her body cradled by the swinging hammock chair. Her gaze might appear empty, but not the mind behind.

For some moments, she forgot that grieving was not only about mourning the deceased, but also about losing other things. Grief had been throwing her out of balance, engulfing her in a storm of countless (and often unrecognizable) emotions. Steve Garrigan said it took his soul and wiped it clean. Rumi exquisitely put it as a crowd of sorrows, violently sweeping your house empty of its furniture. They were true.

She had zero appetite for weeks, and food tasted bland when she ate. Although sunflowers and bouvardias bloomed during the day, she broke down the second she arrived home at night. She pushed herself to go out for an entire week only to find herself mentally and physically drained in the end. When she hit the sack, the viable option was either sleeping too late or waking up too early.

The scariest thing was that she never knew when all these would dissipate. The journey was unapologetically unpredictable, just like the fire she was staring at. It blazed and flickered every now and then in an erratic way.

August 12, 2022

A Self-Fulfilling Prophetrip

I was having a virtual catch up session with my college friends on a late April night when I mindlessly said that I really wanted to travel to Europe. The world has been slowly entering an endemic, so I thought I could have my annual overseas holiday again anytime soon, though I wasn't quite sure if it was already safe enough or not, and who the heck would be willing to accompany me anyway.

Until I realised that Amindari aka Cici was still in the Netherlands to pursue her master's degree -- in fact she's still there now that I'm publishing this story. Not to mention a couple of lecturers back from my uni days currently having their doctoral studies, and a few colleagues who just moved to work there. Solo travel to Europe suddenly felt highly possible. And so I bought flight tickets to Amsterdam a week after to depart in two months, with a mindset that I did this to mainly visit friends. 

Without me knowing, this would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
© La Valse des Mots
Maira Gall