It has been such an exciting experience for me to lived in this neighborhood for several years now and I intend to do that as long as I can. Exciting as I kept finding things I never know I needed and certainly, never running out of things to offer.
Today, I received a gift of an antique mirror from a rich neighbor of mine. She was leaving for another city, and practically giving all of her stuffs and furniture away for the entire neighborhood to keep. It was basically a garage sell, but a free one, and I was drawn to this particular mirror on her collection. Apart from it being the prettiest and most polished out of the collection, it turns my reflection upside-down. Standing in front of it, I played my hands around a little. It is like having a slightly disoriented twin in an alternate universe.
Through my curiosity, I asked her why she keep polishing this mirror over and not the others. And with the care that she had given up to the collection, why does she choose to give it all away. It was a pretty standard question to an unexpectedly deep and profound answer. The mirror I was eyeing for was coming from her late husband at their very first anniversary and when it comes to the mirror, we both shared a similar sense of humor according to her.
“How so?” I asked. “He referred me as his slightly disoriented twin, to each other we seems a lot like two peas in a pod. Although, in reality we are a complete opposite to one another,” she explained. “You see that core in the middle? That’s where we meet. We shared the same value, though in practice we tried to balanced each other out. He might see me to be slightly disoriented from time to time, but don’t forget that from my reflective end, I find him slightly disoriented as well. It was mutual.” she burst into laughter as she reminisce the rehearse tango between the two.
“So why did you give them out? especially this one?” I asked. “The day after I received this mirror I realized that it had no practical uses for me, so we got into a small argument. No seriousness, we discussed all of our differences from time to time.” she answered. “..and while it was a sweet gesture and a great gift, look at the size! It is maddening, all it did is taking up all of the space in our small bedroom. After that, he keep giving me each of the mirror in the collection, the useful others, on each of our anniversary.” She continued. “I am giving this up, because it no longer served the purpose as I have lost that disoriented grandpa last year. I am quite practical that way.”
Slowly, I rolled the mirror away to my street, as she waved one last goodbye. Not to me, but maybe to the memory of her late husband. In her honor, I tilt my head to get it closer to the very end of my own reflection and whispered: now show me, and walk me through the logical explanation of every deceiving and misinterpreted emotions I encounter, ok?
In the meantime, I will keep reading these pages over and countless others if I have to.
The Loudest Backyard 