Light at the end of the tunnel
“Well, is there any?”, she asked exasperated while staring at her reflection in the mirror. She wondered where had the years gone. She hated how that smug face stared back at her. As if it were mocking all her efforts to salvage whatever shred of sanity she had left.
Every morning she would wake up and wonder if all of this was really worth it. She would crawl out of bed to lazily make herself a cup of tea all the waiting and wondering for a reason. A reason to go on. To hang on.
She often wondered what weighed in more — money, happiness, family, principles, values… The list was exhaustive. Her mind wandered to a happier time. When money was not equated to happiness. She looked at the trail she left behind and smirked. Had someone asked her years ago where she would end up, she wouldn’t, with all her infinite options, chosen this.
Then again, it wouldn’t have quiet made her the woman she is today. The push-over she knew a couple of years ago would be proud of the spark-plug she is today. She reminisced about the girl who was full of dreams but lacked ambition.
Jerked back to reality by the honking of a car, she glanced around her. She had done well. She had finally found her place in the grand scheme of things. Suddenly she didn’t feel so out-of-place, so empty. She was thankful for all the experiences — good or unpleasant, she had along the way.
She was glad she found peace in him. Happiness was indeed all around her. She was just being too damn blind and stubborn to see it. Too pre-occupied by her own ambitions. Maybe it was time to stop and be thankful for small [some not-so-small] mercies.
A smile washed across her face and filled her with a feeling of warmth and more importantly hope. The sands of time had taught her well. Helped her cope, pick herself up and brace her for things to come.
She picked herself off the chair in the balcony… her cup ran dry. As she walked towards a re-fill, she realised — ‘Don’t worry ‘bout a thing,
’Cause every little thing gonna be all right.’
