Flip pages

 The hardcover was intact but a little sticky from years of perspiration from being stuck in the cupboard. It is lovely how seeing just the outer cover can stir a whole lot of emotions. It can wake up memories that you had put to sleep with a lot of effort. On turning each page, each of their faces smiling wide was so clear in the mind. In a phase of life where you’re wondering if memory is your thing anymore, it is quite reassuring to see your mind map the handwriting to the right faces.  

A line here and a phrase there;
a quick sketch here and an inside joke there;
ink pen on a page that’s slowly fading (but you still remember enough to fill in);
pages made all colorful with every line in a different pen.
On a day when everything felt grey from the inside, just flipping the pages painted her mind red.

They’d been the world at a point. Then there was a blur. Then there were years of questioning the blur. This phase was followed by some agitation and anger for not being able to find answers. And then slowly, there was peace and space for respect.

How strange yet beautiful is it that these humans are able to come back to you through these pages to reassure you. They’d written all that was needed to get you through this day, a decade ago itself. The words on those pages and their smiling faces on my mind seemed to have a lot of answers to the questions in my head.

It was like everything on this regular day was just paving the way back to this beautiful chapter of life that was kept at a safe distance. It was like drawing strength from that chapter that felt like a failure with wrong calls.

Those five faces in a frame was most precious once;
then it was a frame that was hard to put together;
and then it became a frame from a time to cherish.

Source: Dribbble

Do you flip pages occasionally? Maybe you should. All those notebooks filled with words from a time that you can’t remember now might have the exact phrase to get you through this day.

Some days you need to hear it. You need to be told that you are a tad bit more than what you give yourself credit for. Where it comes from can surprise you and fill your heart.

Flip the pages. Let that heart flutter. And go on.