There must be an office somewhere…a row of rooms encircled with a wide and shady corridor. The corridor has to be wide…It has to accommodate the day- groups of 7 and 10 and 14 days who troop across to that office to get permission.
These day- groups huddle and jostle each other, and giggle at their own private group jokes. Jokes about their future plans and pranks…pranks which will leave bemused looks on the faces of us poor humans when we realize that we have been at the receiving end.
They come to this office for permission from the Authority. Permission to swoop down to Earth—whoosh past their selected human victims—and vanish before those victims realize that the day-group had come to visit them. For these excited day-groups, the incing on the cake is looking back at their victims to see that bewildered look, and hear that familiar phrase “but the last few days just whooshed past”!! That particular day- group never returns…that one permitted swoop was good enough for them.
A 10 day-group has just whooshed past me…and, once again, I have been the perfect victim. They have left me bewildered but happy…zapped but satisfied….eager for more but content too! I have no proof of this whooshing group, but I sure have some heart-warming memories.
Memories of the dogs wagging their tails to fracture point, of walks and drives with chats and laughter and exasperation, of cups of tea and bowls of cake batter, of watching recorded serials and movies for the nth time, of peeling garlic, cooking dinner and hearing “yummy, yummy” when any dish arrived at the table.
I learnt some tech-savvy stuff for my stuff, read graphic novels to see how they differed from comic books, tried to curb my tendency to pamper the dogs/ stuff my face with chocolates/ lecture on the joy of de-cluttering/ justify my increasing girth. I heard about market take-over stunts, the wow factor of apps, refugees and their rights, friends and their fallacies….and everything in-between.
The girls came home …and that 10 day- group had taken permission well in advance from the Authority. That group whooshed past us, and today, when both the girls have returned to their lives, I can feel that bewildered look on my face.
Where did those 10 days go?
What did we do in those 10 days?
And how come I don’t have a single photograph of those 10 days? In these days of mobile cameras, SLRs, selfies and instagram, I was so engrossed in this 10 day- group that all technology fell by the wayside.
Social media had to wait, charged cameras remained in their cases, smart updates queued up in the mind space and then dissolved in disappointment, touristy travel plans were junked…all for the joys of simple living and sharing days as a family.
Today, its departure day+1. I should be feeling blue and lonely, I should be missing the girls and their zing, I should be sighing deeply and loudly.
Remembering that 10 day-group brings a smile on my face, satisfaction in my heart and new energy in my mind. We have had our recharging days and the entire family is rearing to go places, once again! The girls proceed with their work, travel and deadlines. The dogs proceed with their naps, meals and monkey chases.
I will continue to knit, to write, to de-clutter, to figure out the mysteries of life and you will continue to hear from me.