Saturday, February 9, 2013

Long Distance

Like climbing a mountain's summit just to witness the sunrise, I will bridge all our real and imagined distances just to see your smile.



But...what if after all this camping around and climbing about, the summit offers no sunlight? The sun, in all its light and heat is no more than a fact behind a mass of clouds. You know it's there, but you can't see it. You know it's there but you can't feel it. Met with only the cold and wet gust of wind, you will descend the mountain knowing that all this climbing was...useless.

What if after not meeting you, and you not meeting me, your smile became nothing more than a memory hidden among the many moments?  You know it was there, but you can't see it now. You know it can be there but you can't see it.

30, March 2012, there we were 7 beginners climbing a mountain known for the beauty of the sunrise in its summit and in that day-it was raining.

8:30 AM 31, March 2012, only 4 of us made it to the summit and-it was still raining. The famous sunrise took a break from all the prying eyes of thrill seeking and bored tourists.

9:00 PM 31, March 2012, as agreed, we met, we smiled, and we talked.

2:00 AM 1, April 2012, we went to our homes with a smile and a promise to meet again.

When? The hard worker reaches for a dream. Once there, he becomes a tourist reaching for relaxation and excitement. Once it is over, he would again dream.  Like runners in a long-distance relationship with countless finish lines.

3:00 PM 1, April 2012, hand in hand we walked and listened under and to the sea of trees. We found silence in each other.

2:00 AM 2, April, 2012, inside the long and tight hug of goodbye, there and then I knew...that I was climbing another mountain...our hearts running ahead of us.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. There are no straight lines to where you're at and to where I am. Only winding roads, stacked lines of traffic, amidst a journey where my mountain homes end and your plains begin. And the line is far from being straight. Just like the mountain the 7 beginners climbed on a rainy afternoon the 30th of March, 2012.

Each day that you are not with me and I not with you is but a step, heavy as it is, drawing me and you nearer and nearer to that summit where we will meet again.

But not all of the seven made it to the summit, even the sun wasn't there.

Each step taken, carrying all the weight, enduring all the hunger and pain, draws some climbers nearer and nearer to...giving up. The dreamer wakes to another dream.

30, March 2012, it was raining that day, but we, I,  climbed anyway.
             
31, March 2012, the seven, who slept in a tent meant for five, finally made it back home. Wet, sick, tired, bruised, they regretted nothing.  All they have is a T-shirt that says "I survived Mt. Pulag" and the hope to one day meet that elusive sunrise.

Lunch, 14, April 2012...

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