He was dejected. Dejected with work, relationships, and life in general. Everything seemed amiss and heading downhill. This too shall pass, people would say. He didn’t want to entertain this consoling and cheering. The low phase didn’t seem to end. The one thing that was supposed to give him solace when everything else went awry was approaching its death. His relationship with the woman he had been with for the last 11 years was wounded by the blows of circumstances that seemed completely out of their control. Solutions eluded them as they discussed and analysed their problems in unending loops.
Work was far from satisfying, dead-end jobs defined their lives, a couple of medical examinations that didn’t exactly spell cheer, and if this wasn’t enough, there was always fighting. Love isn’t all that it takes, he often thought. She usually threw a fit when he shared such thoughts with her. And he wondered, well, if it were enough, how then, are we so unhappy? There is no dearth of love between us.
As he left for work one morning after a nasty argument, she watched him walk away with a sad, helpless look. This is it! He concluded. There was no light at the end of this proverbial tunnel. So, he decided to send her a text to share this major life decision. Parked on the side, he typed frantically and was about to hit ‘enter’ when he noticed that the morning was cloudy, the breeze was gentle, and the leaves seemed to tremble joyously on the lush trees lined along the quaint street. The usual traffic clamour was missing on the rather quiet Friday morning.
So peaceful on a weekday? Ah! A long weekend. The air felt fresh and the atmosphere suddenly seemed lighter. He reached for the radio knob. The song playing was a childhood favourite. He couldn’t stop himself from getting out of the car, almost ready to dance. Well, almost. He smiled as he felt the warm rays of the 8 am sun on his forehead. What is this warm, fuzzy feeling? What is happening to me? Happiness. In that instant, he was happy.
He reached for his phone, sent her a text. “Nothing is lost. Not yet. If life is so beautiful, then we must experience its beauty. Let’s make it work,” it read.