Life and The Inevitable.
a parable in five parts by Ernio Hernandez
I died yesterday.
Well, to be honest, I died several days ago for what I believe to be the first time. Though, who really knows?
I thought I was a good person. True, I had my share of asshole days. Who hasn’t, really? But bygones, eh? There’s no point in getting into the “why” of it, seeing as how I am here now. And that’s that.
Oh, but I should at least explain what has happened so you get a sense of my timeline. Have you got a couple minutes?
Okay. So… death. I know it seems so heavy to talk about, especially to you, being human. It used to freak the shit out of me when I was. The kind of thing that keeps you up at night when all you are trying to do is NOT think about it. The inevitable! Right? Holy shit, it was scary not knowing what would happen, where I’d go, but — as they say — life (quite literally) goes on.
My first awakening was jarring.
I was shellshocked. Things looked familiar but everything was huge and multiplied and amplified. Ol’ Franzia Kafka and Jefferson Goldblum would’ve laughed knowingly and/or drank champagne together. I had come back as a fly.
My first thought was I completely jinxed myself using the old “fly on the wall” adage probably more than I ever should have. Then, I remembered the average lifespan of a fly and thought WTF! Are you KIDDING me?! Is this some kind of joke? I literally JUST died and I’m going to have to do that shit all over again?
Then, I laughed because I looked down and I was literally all over a piece of shit. (BTdubs, I have GOT to stop using the word literally. Anyway.) I realized maybe this was a lesson I had to learn. I never really laughed like that about the whole cosmic/comic nature of life. And now I was part of nature. And still had life. “Still life,” huh, that takes on new meaning too, eh?
Well, when the inevitable came again, this time I was okay with it. I had only lived a day or two, but man did I live ’em. I smelled the roses. Literally. (I know, but at least I’m using it correctly.) I crammed in all the good stuff about living into those seemingly few hours which were, to me, a lifetime.
The next day I woke up as a tree.
A tree, I know, my initial reaction was probably yours: That’s gotta suck. To be stuck in one place for years upon years and not be able to move or see anything new beyond my current view. I was petrified.
Haha, guess what? I mean that literally. I mean, I was scared for sure, but that went away and a calm came over me after a day. I realized I didn’t have to go anywhere to enjoy life. And new things came into view every moment. Life was all around me, I just had to sit back and watch. And I enjoyed the time to just think. It was great.
Oh, but yeah, the second day I was literally petrified. Apparently a volcano that was behind me erupted and yeah, petrified.
Suddenly I was only a leaf.
It seems like a downgrade when I say it now, having previously been an entire tree. But honestly, it wasn’t. I had much less responsibility to the rest of the “family.” (I am seriously killing with this wordplay, are you catching all of them? I know! I dunno, they just happen. Ahhh. Anyway.)
So I hung around for like a day, but winter was coming. And I knew of the inevitable. My dried-up old self was not long for life and limb. When my time came, I was ready. I simply let go.
That’s my life in a nutshell.
My life-s, I suppose. Lives, sorry, cut me some poetic slack, will ya? I’m not the one who’s sitting around listening to a turtle pontificating about the meaning of it all. Anyway. Really, any way that you look at it, it’s all short.
Sure, I can say that now, given that my current term of life is a lengthier span. Though, who really knows? I could have to face the inevitable again tomorrow. Ya think I’m going to hide out under my shell all my life? I may (or may not) have more time now, but it’ll take me a little longer to get wherever I want to go. And I’m okay with that. I am happy to just be. Alive.
♡
Like this? You may enjoy:
