I had to part with the team today and it was a sad event. Over the last three weeks these random people that I’ve never met before and were just characters and names from Niru’s narrations of her life in Australia
We spent our last night together down in the jungles of Masinagudi and it felt an awful lot like I was back in Africa ! The excitement of driving through forest and chancing upon wild elephants, deer, and other animals was like a flashback to the many safaris that we went on when I was growing up. We stayed up till about midnight, sitting on the verandah keeping watch for animals wandering into the property. We heard lots of agitated elephant trumpeting and they sounded like they were in very close proximity but unfortunately they chose not to grace us with their presence. But anyway, just the fact that they were so close by in itself was so exciting and to be honest, I just wanted to stay up and be with everyone for as long as I could!
I woke up this morning feeling rather glum at the prospect of saying goodbye in a couple of hours. Gosh, so hard. And then you start to question why on earth we put ourselves through this torturous process. Why do we set ourselves up, so to speak, for inevitable long-distance relationships/friendships?
Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way but I suppose the survival instint in me wants to protest sometimes. Protect your fragile heart from the pain!
But as C.S. Lewis puts it,
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
Yeah, I wouldn't have it any other way.
If it makes you feel any better, My husband and I had a long distance relationship for more than 4 years before we got married! But the wait was certainly worth it!
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks for the encouragement but hopefully we won't have to wait for four years!!
ReplyDelete