Last night I packed a dream into a $13.99 plastic bin that I picked up at the Container Store. I know it was the right thing to do. It was the only thing I could do. Leaving little reminders of what might have been all around my house did nothing but sadden me. I probably should have packed things up months ago, but I’ve been holding on to that dream, thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would come alive again. Yesterday I had a most vivid realization that it won’t.
So today, this first day of July, I try again to look forward. The last 24 hours have been harder than I expected. Over the last nine months, I’ve had moments where I felt strong and moments where I felt completely broken. I’ve had days when I couldn’t imagine what would come next and days when I was determined to build a future that I would want. I’ve made a point of traveling and racing and scheduling more travel. I have focused a great deal on training, which has paid off and helped me feel stronger physically and mentally. Just this past Saturday, I felt so hopeful. Then a hard reality sank in, and I’m back to being raw. I think of those geometry toys that are interconnected collapsible links that you can build into shapes and then with one pull, you can collapse them again into a pile of sticks. Some moments I’m a pretty shape and some moments I’m the pile of sticks.
As much as I’d like to crawl into that plastic bin and sleep the day away with all those little things that I still love, I can’t. I won’t. I will work. I will swim and run after work. And I will trust that life really is wise, even when I don’t understand it.
I love the last sentence, Taline. There is so much we don’t understand. And we think if we could just understand it would all be better. But probably it wouldn’t help as much as we think it would. Letting go–so hard, so necessary. And it happens when it happens, usually without intention. One day we just say, “Oh, I let that go. When did that happen?” And we are sad again for a minute, then we go on with our living.
I would like very much to fast forward to the one day that you describe. One day.
I’m sorry I hadn’t had a chance to read this before our lunch today, would have liked to discuss. Enjoyed the time with you as always…
Same here, Amit. I loved seeing you. And that we had lots of other things to talk about did my heart good. I loved feeling like myself again with you. Thank you for continuing to be such a dear friend.
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