The love Nora and I shared was certainly grand. We built our own fantasy worlds. We would sometimes role-play. At times, she was the captive and I was the rescuer who traveled the world and swam the seven seas to save her. Other times, she was the nurse who attended to my needs as I recovered from a deadly unknown disease, which was miraculously cured by love and a soft kiss from her luscious lips. We shared everything with each other. We found happiness, we found comfort, we found security, and we found love. Together, we would let our imaginations soar beyond the heavens. We imagined what our wedding would look like, and the songs we would dance to. We named our future kids.
No,' Nora said, almost in a whisper. 'It's because -' she looked carefully for the words - 'you didn't stare at me. I saw you blush, and you immediately lowered your eyes. And I should have been embarrassed, ashamed... but I, I just felt safe, and I stood there unafraid.' She closed her eyes, taking in all the feelings of gratitude she had for that moment. 'That's when I knew I could trust you in a way that I didn't know was possible.
You are my only prize; the kids are a bonus.' Baba had a way of reassuring Mama of how much she meant to him. Their love story inspired all of us; they exemplified everything that was beautiful about marriage. They worked together as a team, they complemented one another. The sacrifices were many, but they never kept count.
And the most important thing I wish for you to know is this: Love is the soul of life. I would say it is the fuel of life, but fuel runs out, and love doesn't.
Love shapes who you are in many ways. Its presence or absence in our youth impacts our adulthood, which impacts our future generations; the cycle has to be restarted somewhere.
I will enforce rules that teach you all about chivalry and being a fair lover. I want you to do better than I did, and better than your gedo. I wish for you to be a good lister like Baba and do both the small and big things for your partner—he exemplified just that with Mama, every day. I wish for you to be able to express yourself openly, freely, and, most importantly, with respect for those on the receiving end.
Those are the things we really seek in one another: As kids, we seek those who enjoy the same games and define fun the same way we do. As we get a bit older and our childhoods are robbed - all childhoods are robbed or broken; it is usually a sudden, violent transformation - we seek out those who relate to our transition. As teenagers, we rebel and we attempt to create a new reality. As young adults, we look to recapture it all and find the person who can relate to all of it, and we add a shade of shallowness to it. As adults, we come to the realization that we have been trying to recapture the simplicity of the purest form of love - happy love. We look for someone who can pull us out of the darkness of adulthood and ignite the simple, childish joys of life.
