As I ran around the reservoir this morning, I happened past two ladies walking and talking. They were perhaps fifteen or twenty years older than me. This is what I heard as I approached and then passed them by: "As with most things in life... take for instance relationships, the secret is...."
And the rest was tantalizingly lost to the breeze.
Hm.
Hm.
So, on the next lap, I stopped and said hello.
Turns out that their conversation had been about how people sometimes let themselves go and become bigger than they'd like to be. The taller lady said to me: "It's about being aware. Keeping an eye out. When things feel wrong, even slightly so, take action immediately. And this is the same for relationships. If something feels wrong, do something about it. And if it stays wrong, get out, because otherwise you are wasting precious time and it only gets harder and harder to leave."
As I ran off, she called out: good luck!
You can't sway someone from their journey if it's what they have their heart set upon. But it all goes back to one of my favourite quotations from the man of the generous heart: "Dis okay om foute te maak, maar as jy nie leer van jou foute nie, is jy 'n doos." (It's okay to make mistakes, but if you don't learn from them, you're a c*nt)
I'm not saying I won't make mistakes again. But hopefully next time when someone I'm in love with looks me in the eye and says: "You know I'm a louse, baby.", I'll try to listen past the stars in my eyes and the humming of that tuning fork in my body and take more care. And maybe eat less chocolate.
6 comments:
The Chinese say: 'We are punished by our own stupidity'
I'd like to think that's the truth.
Jy het die mooiste name vir mense. The man with the generous heart" is die mooiste.
Ek wonder hoe jy jouself sou beskryf?
The girl with the dreams in her heart?
Wonder sommer net.
Ag Petro, dankie. dis mos moeiliker as mens kom by jouself. maar ja, baie drome in hart en bloos maklik...
Divisadero is how Michael Ondaatje describes the disconnect between how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. That makes self-naming difficult...
Beautiful story. Arrange differently into a poem
You can't sway someone
from their journey
if it's what they have their heart set upon.
When someone I'm in love with looks me in the eye and says:
"You know I'm a louse, baby.", I'll try to listen
past the stars in my eyes
and the humming
of that tuning fork in my body
and take more care.
And maybe eat less chocolate.
Marie -
thanks for the remix...
ek het gister aan jou gedink, want die lig verander hier en gistraand kon ek sweer ek voel die eerste vingers van Herfs. en toe dink ek: New York, Lente, bloeisels, Marie.
O en by the way, Michael Ondaatje se boeke maak my knieë lam. LAM.
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