“I wish you’d live a little more and try to ‘grow-up’ a little less”.
Little Arya comes alive.
Yesterday, I was playing around with my doga in our tiny backgarden.
I kicked around a yellow sponge ball (football-style) while she chased me and tried to grab it with her front paws.
A few barks and two tackles later, she managed to snatch it from me. Then she sat down on the grass to chew it to bits.
I took that as a cue to sit down and admire the garden: all the flowers that my mother had carefully selected, planted in brown clay pots, and tended to over the years.
I stared with my resting zoned-out face at the dance of all those colours before me, my babygirl beside me, still working on tearing apart the ball.
The low-pitched hum of an aeroplane flying overhead filled the silence.
I looked up at the sky.
My grandmother was looking out from her bedroom window (it’s on the top floor, and faces the garden).
She might’ve heard all the noise and decided to see what’s up.
I waved at her.
She waved back and went to resume what she was up to.
After a while, my mom called me back in too. It was time for tea.
We all sat sipping tea around the table — my mom, my grandmother and I.
“Maya seemed to enjoy that horseplay”, my grandmother commented.
I smiled.
“It had been a while, so I thought I should spend some time with her”, I replied.
She smiled.
“It’s been so long since I saw you like that… just playing around without a care in the world, looking silly and jumping about”.
I gave her a puzzled look.
“What is she saying out of nowhere?”, I thought.
She noticed my confusion and continued, “well, now that you’re all grown-up, I never see you enjoying such moments — you always seem so serious. I wish you’d live a little more and try to ‘grow-up’ a little less, you know what I mean? Anyway, it was nice to see a glimpse of the old Arya again”.
We shared a knowing look, and took another sip of our tea.
“It was nice to be her again too”.
P.S. Like what you read?
Damn, flashbacks are appearing in my mind as I read this. We forget about the simple and peaceful moments in life.