Short Sketch--Homecoming

As soon as they heard my footsteps, my sisters rushed to where I stood. They stopped, a few feet away, as if unable to believe it. Then they rushed back to tell Mother that I had come…

And I closed my eyes.

Why had I stayed away so long?

This is where I have always found Peace. This is where I could close my eyes and breathe deeply… fully; free of the frantic pace of the rat race. This is where I could bask in the freedom of my soul, in an understanding that transcends explanation.

Why is it that I come here so rarely? Why do I stay away for months together, until some inexplicable force drags me here?

Because I cannot stand it. I cannot stand the realization that life is slipping away from my control. I cannot stand the Truth that this terrible sprint for survival and frenzied grabbing of material goals is not where I find contentment. I cannot stand the comprehension that in the quest to win, I was losing more than I could afford to.

I cannot stand the insight that pierces my blindness and shows me, so simply, what I really love.

I cannot stand the Happiness I find here.

I felt the caress of my Mother’s fingers through my hair, her soft kiss upon my forehead. I felt the salt of her tears upon my lips. I sensed her love and her reproach, her tenderness and her pain.

My tears mingled with hers as my defenses crumbled. I sat down for a minute, letting myself be, letting go of the heavy chains that I had tied myself to. I wondered why I never realized what a burden I always carried, until I set it down.

I wondered why I had to go back.

Why couldn’t I just give myself over to her gentle embrace? Why couldn’t I be as my sisters and cousins were, always bound together, yet always free?

But, even as I heard her song of welcome and my soul sang along with her, I knew it was not yet time. My chains still claimed me as their slave; I had yet to earn my freedom.

For a long while, I sat there, enveloped in a sense of tranquility. For a long while, I watched my sisters frolic and dance, beckoning me to their midst.

A long while I sat at the seashore, a Mermaid born with legs, a soul-child of the Sea, a sister of the waves and sea creatures, listening to their calls, swathed in a sense of belonging so deep, that to step away was soul-wrenching.

And then I walked back, the sea’s music still echoing in my soul, back to a world that claimed me as one of their own, and yet did not know me at all.