Five ticks

There are certain moments in every one's life where time seems to stop. Moments for which you have created a play in your head, carefully added each and every detail, arranged it with a background score (oh, the drama!), played and replayed in your mind over and over, so much so that you dream about those moments. Sometimes you are the graceful one, sometimes you crumble down to dust. Sometimes you are surprised at a particular outcome of that piece of fiction, sometimes you realize that you know better than to expect anything different. Like every run of a play, the moment is executed differently each and every time.

In reality, when that moment actually arrives, it happens for less than an instant. You look up, your stomach is up in knots, you stare and its over. And before you know it, all the previous replays, all the previous runs are now replaced by this one piece of reality. Sure, when the reality is now replayed, it is in slow motion, where you try to re-capture every little detail that actually ended up being the truth of the matter. It hurts to realize that you knew better than to expect something different.

Snobs that we humans are, we fool ourselves into feeling that, we are different, that our relationships with people are better, stronger and more meaningful than those with others. The fact of the matter is that all it takes is those five seconds of reality to slap you in the face and bring you back to facing the bitter truth. And for better or for worse, those five seconds teach you to deal with it, take it in your stride and keep walking. A dear dear friend once told me this - "We humans are wired to fix ourselves and live without anyone". Someone you thought was closest to your heart, someone you trusted the most, someone you almost messed your life for - turns out, you can live without them. And any foolish expectation that you have, from the remains, is driven to closure by five ticks of a clock.