Judy
To be forgotten
Somewhere between lunch and dinner we were watching television. A documentary that YouTube automatically played. “Oblivion is humanity’s biggest scourge”, my father murmured as Hitler arrowed his arm in front of the Nazi army, comparing Nazism with the current comeback of populism. “We have everything documented, yet we chose to ignore the history books on our shelves and neglect those who were swallowed forever by the dark pages of the past.”
On that same day I was getting prepared for the day I have looked forward to all winter long. It took me a free day, a shining sun, a spring and a camera to have the day of the year. Those ingredients happened to be on this day. It was the right time to make a visit to my forest and make exquisite pictures!
A forest that I befriended ever since my friend introduced me to her. She is the kind of forests that leaves you believing in the tiny possibility that fairies exist when you take the pathway between a parallel line of trees that wears a different shade of every colour as the seasons change. I have been there several times since last October, but I was dying to see her in her best: in the spring on a warm day.
The ideal day has come. I was free, there was sun, warmth, a good mood, a fully charged camera and feet to walk on. I did not see that coming, that I will run back home half an hour later as the angry bees and hornets wouldn’t allow me to come near their flowers, their spring and their favourite day of the year! Not only I escaped the buzzing in my ears without any nice pictures, I also figured out that I came back home without a cell-phone in my pocket.
A sun, warmth, a terrible mood and a bicycle to be there as soon as possible. A lady with her dog addressed me in my search between the trees: “Are you looking for this?”, handing me my cell phone. “Oh, thank God! Thank you!...”, and before I finish showing my gratitude I feel a tiny electric shock, a needle stinging my lips, without any buzzing, without any warning. The bees win. “Lesson learnt, Mother nature!”, I thought to myself. “I will never force my high expectations down the spring’s and the bees throat again.”
A year later, this memory has been washed away by the other seasons. I had a full schedule with concerts, gatherings, meetings, and again aspirations for the spring. Because spring is new beginnings.
It is new year resolutions and wishes coming to reality. It is picking up the camera from its bag to capture the blossoms. It is forgetting what happened last year. There it goes, in the last weeks left of winter. Almost the beginning of a new spring and new expectations: the first Corona case in the Netherlands has been confirmed.
Bye bye concerts, bye bye laying on the grass, bye bye plans, bye bye high expectations, not only mine, but the whole world’s!
“Oblivion is humanity’s biggest scourge”. My father was so right about the forgetfulness of humans.
