Mămicenie, invidie și antroposofie

– Lucrați? ne întreabă Monique, vecina de peste drum. (Soția lui Achilles, comerciantul de vin. Au amândoi peste 70 de ani și nu au copii. “Încă”, spune el.)
– Soțul meu, îi răspund. Eu sunt în concediu de maternitate cu bebelușul.
– Deci lucrați amândoi, răspunde ea zâmbind.

În cele mai multe dimineți și în unele seri la noi în casă miroase a pâine proaspăt scoasă din cuptor. Tot cam în fiecare zi a mâncare: legume, pește, brânză și fructe în combinații pe care le pun la cale ca un pictor când își împrietenește culorile unele cu altele după ce și-a pregătit pânza.

O parte din familie crede că mutarea în Belgia este pentru mine un fel de vacanță în care pierd și eu vremea cum pot și, în general, mă plictisesc plimbându-mă de colo până colo. Cred că doar cine nu are copii sau cine nu și i-a crescut el însuși poate crede asta. Până nu demult mă deranja foarte tare această părere. Deși conștientizam de la bun început că fiecare judecă după propriul nivel și după cât îl poate duce capul, tot îmi venea să tai niște capete.

O altă părere care m-a înfuriat a fost că aș avea nevoie de cineva care să stea cu copilul meu cât timp eu “fac treabă”, dacă tot insist eu că am o grămadă de lucruri de făcut și nu am timp să mă plictisesc. Când am auzit, m-am gândit că poate mai degrabă aș avea nevoie de cineva care să facă treabă în timp ce eu stau cu copilul meu. Că doar asta este, de fapt, singura treabă pe care ar trebui să o am, fiind mama lui. Doar că mi-am dat repede seama că ar fi un aranjament care nu m-ar face deloc fericită și care, mai mult, n-ar fi nici sănătos pentru mine sau pentru familia mea.

Eu nu gătesc pentru că trebuie, pentru că așa m-ar fi învățat mama, pentru că asta ar aștepta soțul sau pentru că, doh, trebuie să și mâncăm. Gătesc pentru că mâncarea nu e doar o materie care îți potolește foamea, ci pentru că te hrănește. Nu mă gândesc că, de foame acolo, o să mănânce orice îi pun în față, ci mă străduiesc ca ceea ce pregătesc să fie bun și să arate bine. Pun acolo energia mea, iubirea mea, grija mea, creativitatea mea, pasiunea mea, iubirea mea pentru viață și recunoștința pentru pământul ăsta atât de darnic cu noi.

Copilul meu nu stă singur și plânge în timp ce eu gătesc. E cu mine, fie în locul de joacă, fie în scaunul de luat masa, fie în sistemul de purtare. Îi povestesc și îi arăt ce fac și ce ingrediente folosesc, îi cânt, îi dau să ronțăie câte ceva sau să se joace cu tacâmurile lui. Simte toate mirosurile și vede toate culorile și formele și e martor activ al procesului prin care ia naștere hrana familiei noastre. Bine, uneori doarme și atunci gătesc în șoaptă.

La masă aprindem o lumânare dacă e răcoare și mâncăm înăuntru, dar, dacă afară e frumos, mâncăm în grădină. Așteptăm ca toți trei să avem mâncarea în față și să fim pregătiți să mâncăm, ne urăm poftă bună și ne bucurăm de acest timp împreună în care ne hrănim nu doar trupurile. Rămânem cu toții așezati până fiecare termină de mâncat, mulțumim pentru masă și tot împreună strângem. Dacă suntem cu toții acasă, atunci cu toții gătim și pregătim masa. Ne exprimăm plăcerea, aprecierea și bucuria pentru hrana primită. E adevărat că uneori ne grăbim să mâncăm dacă piticul dă semne că nu-și va petrece prea mult timp la masă și e adevărat că nu ne iese mereu să mâncăm, așa cum le spuneam copiilor la grădiniță, ca niște prinți și prințese – stând drepți, fără să sorbim supa, fără să uităm de noi cu ochii în farfurie, folosind tot arsenalul de luat masa după regulile bunelor maniere. Dar ne străduim. Pentru că știm că asta transmitem mai departe.

Și e adevărat și că piticul aruncă cu mâncare peste tot și și-o întinde peste tot, inclusiv în cap. Se joacă, cercetează, descoperă – texturi, mirosuri, gusturi și gravitația. După fiecare masă trebuie spălat și schimbat și locul unde am luat masa curățat, la fel și scaunul de luat masa. Da, de 3-4 ori pe zi. În fiecare zi. De multe ori cu el în brațe. Știu, e mare și greu.

Nimic din toate lucrurile acestea nu se face pocnind din degete, necesită timp, efort, disciplină și energie. Și nimic nu este o corvoadă. Nu avem părinți sau bunici aproape care să ne ajute pentru că așa am ales noi. Iar aici se pare că sunt oameni care și de doi ani caută pe cineva care să le facă menajul, așa că deocamdată ne descurcăm noi. Sunt sigură că, deși nu e simplu cu un copil, e mult mai simplu decât cu doi, trei sau mai mulți. Dar și că, deși ar fi double trouble, ar fi și double fun și double love.

Da, am trăit ani lucrând 12-13 ore pe zi, cu o grămadă de oameni, m-am plimbat dintr-un loc într-altul kilometri, am gândit planuri, strategii, materiale de curs, teste, evaluări, rapoarte, am participat la ședințe, întâlniri, cursuri. Am făcut o facultate și un master și nenumărate cursuri. Credeam că o să am mai mult timp de citit și de scris în perioada asta. Nu am. Poți spune că nu-i simplu să treci de la o astfel de viață la una de schimbat scutece, gătit pentru o familie și pus la rând o casă. Și nu e. Dar e cel mai bun lucru care mi se putea întâmpla. Și mai mult decât atât, e ceea ce am ales și ceea ce aleg în continuare în fiecare zi.

Pare viața perfectă? Chiar e. Pentru că e cea pe care, repet, am ales-o. La fel cum fiecare alt om are tot viața perfectă. Pentru că e, ați ghicit, cea pe care și-a ales-o. Puteți spune că nu, eu nu am ales viața asta, că uite, diverse circumstanțe m-au adus aici. Poate că nu vă mai aduceți aminte, dar la un nivel mai înalt, asta ați ales. Pentru că exact ceea ce experimentați acum, în fiecare clipă, vă e de cel mai mare folos pentru evoluția proprie.Când se deschide o portiță de schimbare, minunat, înseamnă că e momentul pentru o schimbare.

De ce, atunci, am invidia pe cineva pentru viața pe care o are? În perioada aceasta mă preocupă subiectul invidiei și tot cercetez, observ și analizez. Rudolf Steiner (un ciudat clarvăzător care a pus bazele antroposofiei – știința spiritului, pe care se bazează și pedagogia Waldorf) tratează în aceeași conferință subiectul invidiei și subiectul minciunii, în context karmic. (Despre karmă dați și voi o căutare pe Google să vă scoată din ceață, dacă e cazul. Ah, și dacă nu credeți în karmă și reîncarnare, ghinion, că nu e nevoie să credeți în ele ca să existe.)

Așa… Și el zice că invidia și minciuna sunt la polul opus empatiei, pentru că atunci când invidiem și mințim pe cineva nu prețuim sâmburele de divinitate din el. Și că invidia ține de cel mai profund egoism al omului, nefiind în stare să se bucure de nivelul pe care un seamăn al lui l-a atins.

Iar minciuna, spune el, e asemănătoare în felul în care îi separă pe oameni, fiind în viziunea lui chiar o crimă la adresa a ceea ce îi leagă pe oameni, a adevărului care este valabil pentru toți oamenii. În fine, și explică el foarte pe larg și frumos despre forțele care alimentează aceste două defecte ale oamenilor și despre faptul că aceste defecte, odată ce începi să lupți împotriva lor, se manifestă în viața omului sub niște măști.

Așadar, învidia se manifestă sub formă de critică. Și omul se amăgește că el are o minte brici și o privire clarisimă asupra lumii și de aceea vede defectele despre care vorbește obiectiv. De exemplu, o invidiez pe Lenuța că are țâțe mari și o critic că, totuși, par cam lăsate. Sau că are nasul mare. Sau că e cu nasul pe sus. Sau că n-o duce capul. În fine, ați prins ideea, găsesc eu ceva pentru care să o critic. E interesant să ne uităm pe cine și pentru ce criticăm, e interesant să scormonim ce e dedesubt. Mă rog, asta dacă nu ne place să ascundem mizeria sub covor.

Eu, de exemplu, mărturisesc că-mi invidiam partenerul de viață pentru ceea ce vedeam ca fiind libertate de mișcare (drumul până la gară, naveta cu trenul, timpul pentru meditație, citit sau stat aiurea pe net, socializarea cu colegii, timpul de ieșit la plimbare sau în parc în pauza de prânz) în contextul în care eu 24/7 sunt la dispoziția piticului și singurul timp fără el e tot cu el, cu o ureche ciulită să aud când se trezește. (Să ne înțelegem, nu-mi doresc cu adevărat să fie altfel.) Așa că-l criticam pentru te miri ce – că nu-mi răspunde suficient de rapid la mesaje, că nu înțelege stările prin care trec (nu că ar avea cum, e un cocktail de hormoni pe care trebuie să-l experimentezi ca să știi cum e, dar de străduit se străduiește) și mai găseam și altele, că de idei nu duc lipsă. Pentru el ceea ce eu priveam ca fiind libertate de mișcare este și o sursă de stres și de oboseală, dar nu mă interesa prea mult acest aspect, prea preocupată fiind de propria-mi poveste.

Ei bine, și Steiner explică foarte frumos ce se întâmplă când învingi un astfel de defect, de ce este el înlocuit și cum se manifestă oamenii în noul context, cum se confruntă cu efectele și consecințele experiențelor trecute. Și mai spune el că ne naștem printre oameni pe care i-am mințit, criticat, invidiat. Și că atitudinea corectă când observăm asta în jurul nostru este iertarea și iubirea. (Ce surpriză, nu? La naiba, de ce-o fi așa de greu?) Iubirea este un remediu cu o forță vindecătoare imensă, explică el. Și că asta e ceea ce putem face pentru ceilalți (că pentru noi înșine oricum nu putem face mare lucru) și, mai mult decât să întoarcem și celălalt obraz, e de folos “să răspundem cu cea mai mare bunătate la răul care ni s-a făcut”. Greu când nu doar că ai plecat la mii de km depărtare, dar îți vine în continuare să zbori niște capete. Cu iluzia că tu meriți această libertate și că ar face bine să-și vadă de micimea lor acolo și să te lase în pace. Nu-i de mirare că te critică pentru înfumurare…

Steiner insistă să mă lovească în continuare: “Nu înţelege nimic despre karmă cel ce crede că trebuie să-l lase pe celălalt în seama karmei sale.” Trebuie să ajutăm. La naiba, dar nu am eu destulă treabă cu mine? mă întreb înfigându-mi cu ciudă unghiile în palmă. Ce treabă am eu să-l iubesc pe Gicu după ce că-mi trimite venin zilnic? De ce să-i trimit iubire? Ducă-se. Ok, nu cea mai luminoasă parte a mea are tendințele astea, de acord. Dar e una destul de puternică. Steiner pune sare pe rană în continuare: “Dacă dezvoltăm în noi empatia în sensul cel mai înalt, vom simți îndatorirea de a simți empatie şi când e vorba de invidie şi de minciună. Dezvoltăm astfel în noi un sentiment al solidarității, care cuprinde în el toate sufletele umane.” Ok, Rudy, I got it, mă străduiesc.

Ei, și explică el mai departe despre Christos și despre scopul reîncarnărilor și alte asemeana bazaconii. Vă las și pe voi să citiți aici. Nu-i simplu, dar zău că merită. Dacă nu insistați să vă mințiți. Eu o să insist să vă iubesc. Nu promit să-mi iasă din prima, dar nu mă dau bătută, deși am atâta treabă. (Hai cu empatia aici.)

Tăcerile noastre ningeau peste o lume mică și prăpădită.

O lipisem laolaltă din bucăți de carton tăiate din cutii vechi, sosite cu cine știe ce colete, cu lucruri comandate de pe net în momente de singurătate și plictiseală, în speranța că ne vor da un sens. Nu ne mai erau de folos și ne-am gândit să ne construim din ele o mașinărie a timpului, în care să ne pitim când afară lucrurile păreau de neacceptat. Și ne ascundeam acolo și ne imaginam că suntem aici și acum și că ne-am găsit. Nu era niciodată așa. Tăcerile, precum spuneam, se așterneau între noi și, din când în când, se porneau de-a valma în avalanșe care ne-acopereau membrele paralizându-le. Erau foarte convingătoare. O vreme chiar credeam că ne este absolut imposibil să ne mișcăm.

Adevărul însă răsărea de fiecare dată, nemilos ca soarele primăvara peste pârtiile de ski. Și gata. Nu ne mai puteam preface, oricât ne străduiam. Adevărul țâșnea din stratul umed și murdar ca brândușele, ghioceii și toporașii. Ne făcea să ne fie dor de ninsoare, de adrenalina de pe pârtii, de nemișcarea de sub stratul gros de zăpadă căzută peste noi. Ne făcea să privim în urmă încercând să salvăm câte ceva, dar neadevărul ne aluneca printre degete ca nisipul și se risipea la picioarele noastre. Cadavrele tăcerilor îngrășau apoi solul pentru ceea ce avea să vină.

Nu vreau să vorbim, continuam să îți spun cu încăpățânare. Obosisem. Din pieptul meu nu mai porneau ramuri tinere, iar când încercai să mă îmbrățișezi palmele îmi alunecau de fiecare dată pe lângă corp, amorțite și reci, precum cadavrele tuturor tăcerilor noastre. Nu, nu vreau, răspundeam de fiecare dată, cu o voce tot mai stinsă, alunecând înapoi în tăcere ca la sfârșitul vieții.

The corpse bride is in the living room

You know, all those people that I just had to love, to impress, to amaze. I’ve been thinking about them. I always had such a soft spot for the unloved, the damaged, the marginalized, the wounded. Oh, no, I didn’t have the Jesus Christ complex. And I was not special. Nor was I loving, forgiving, tolerant or generous. No. I was a pervert. I was turned on by other people’s pain. It had a magnetic power over me. And then I pretended to love them until they became addicted, until they put me on a pedestal and called me “goddess”, “your majesty”, “countess”, “my love” or “baby”. I was so good at it I even convinced myself I was honest and could swear it was true. The moment I felt powerful enough though, I left them. “It’s time they discovered their own power”, I told myself to justify my cruelty.  “They shouldn’t be living in my shadow, they should shine.”

But the truth is I was a parasite. I used to feed on their pain. So when they felt so loved  that they no longer hurt, I made them hurt so that my feast could go on. I was puzzled every time someone didn’t become fascinated by me, every time someone skipped the pedestal phase, every time someone didn’t absolutely adore me, worship me, make me the sole purpose of their life.

All this time I haven’t loved anybody. Nor have I tried, to be perfectly honest. Brutally honest, as I usually am. The kind of brutality bondage involves, when the sub is all tied up and suspended and cannot hide that cellulite on the bare thighs, that muffin top, the wrinkles or the fears. Brutal honesty all the way. For me it was all a bunch of stories I was telling myself. I was pretending. Every time. Pretending to care about the other. When all time the only person I was trying to look after was myself. And it was never enough. That lack, the void, the sharp mind that cut through the veils of the heart, my feet firmly stuck to the ground, my open eyes while fucking (sorry, love making) – each of them murder accomplices.

I could tell you all about all those people who didn’t love me, I could tell you all about being left, deserted, betrayed, lied to, cheated on, forgotten, skipped, hurt, offended, beaten up, slapped, diminished, humiliated. But it would all be a lie. Not that it didn’t all happen. It did. Or a version of it, anyway. But what good would that do? I am not looking for excuses. Not any more.

You know, I was thinking if I could, I would travel in the lives of all those women you loved without loving and I would love them instead. Just to make things right. And all those men you were too afraid to love. And I would freeze to death all those men and women who didn’t love you. Just by the power of my sharp gaze. And still, that wouldn’t make your heart any warmer. Neither yours, nor mine. But I know now it is not you that I would be trying to save. It’s me.

The small blonde and her white dog

Heading home at the end of one of my daily postpartum walks, as I like to call them, I stop at a traffic light and wait for it to go green before I can cross the street. Next to me another woman stops, carrying her dog – a small, white, fluffy and very energetic animal. I look at it and smile. I think it smiles back.

“Each with her own baby”, she says in a loud, high pitched voice, looking at my boy all tucked in the wrap on my chest, under the winter cover.

“He’s so cute”, I reply trying to assure her I’m not judging, but simply admiring.

She’s a short, small blonde, wearing bright pink lipstick, dark sunglasses and a ponytail. Her outfit is all black – hooded parka, shiny tights and platforms. The kind of woman tall women typically hate and the kind that typically hates tall women.* The kind insecure men typically prefer because it makes them feel big and strong.**

The small blonde and her small, white dog spring forward as the light goes green and then briefly stop on the other side of the road so that the dog is released from its owner’s arms and they continue their quick walk down the narrow sidewalk, beside the crazy traffic (which I manage to ignore most of the times and imagine it’s a waterfall or the sea on a stormy day).

The next day, as I’m walking out of our apartment building, I hear footsteps coming from the elevator behind me so I stop and hold the front door, waiting for the steps to approach. When I turn around, I see the blonde and her white dog. We say hello and then they quickly walk past me. But as the couple gets to the warden’s kiosk, the warden quickly comes out and stops them:

“One for you and one for the doggy”, he says handing the small blonde two candies. “They’re sugarless”, he adds as she thanks him and puts the candies in her coat pocket.

During their short conversation, the white dog raises one of its hind legs and pees on the wall next to the warden’s door. They both pretend not to see it and the warden goes back inside his kiosk, careful not to step in the dog’s urine, while the small blonde and her white dog walk away.

Once again I am left behind, feeling like a whale carrying her calf – calmly and quietly floating in the blue vastness, slow and steady, witnessing everything, taking it all in and releasing it all, lacking the motivation to speed up, deeply sunk in our meditative wisdom. We seem as old as the world itself.

*Since most women typically hate other women, for various reasons that escape logic and defy reason, but are typical of the misogynistic, patriarchal, consumerist society that educates them to compete. God forbid they should form a powerful sisterhood. (That sounded so bitterly feminist, didn’t it?)

**Since most men (around here, at least) are typically educated to try to seem bigger and stronger than they truly are and pair up with weaker specimens of the opposite sex so as to dominate, use and abuse, instead of aiming for a real partnership, on equal terms. (Is it just me, or did that sound even more bitterly feminist?)

October is my favorite month

“Come here, stand like this, closer to the lady, yes, I want your hand here, good, lower the bouquet, smile, yes, now a little kiss, hold it, hold it, ok, now here, like this…” the ‘military’ lady at the city hall is directing everything so that she can take “just a few pictures, not many, just a few!”

As soon as we get inside the marriage room, she takes over and informs us she’s going to take photos of us whether we like it or not.

“It’s ok”, I try to stop her, “we already have our own photographer, so it’s not necessary, thank you.”

“That’s why I’m telling you it’s just a few photos, not many, and it’s gonna cost you just 100 ron, not more.”

We later laugh when we remember her, in her military style, giving us orders about how to stand, where to look, when and how long to kiss for the camera. Eventually, her photos didn’t turn out bad at all, though. But the military lady’s style is in such a sharp contrast to our dear friend’s, who’s actually a lawyer and took a day off from her office so that she could be with us and give us this wonderful gift of taking our wedding pictures in such a loving, soothing and embracing manner! And she’s a very talented photographer, indeed!

Oh, I got married, yes. It happened on a perfect Indian summer day, 17 October, in our 37th week of pregnancy. Only 7 guests (what a number!) – our parents, our godparents and the very good friend who took photos. I’ve always had a special connection to number 17… And it was one of those days when you are so happy and truly believe nothing can ever go wrong again, everybody seems friendly, you feel great and look your best standing up tall in your pink shoes matching the pink flower in your hair and the rose bouquet in your hand and basically can’t stop smiling.

He proposed in May, under a very special tree, with pink flowers grown right on its bark, in a garden where we often used take long walks. My ring has a small emerald stone, embraced by a loose silver knitting. We’ve been through so much since May and it does feel as if the relationship had to grow and ripen until autumn so that we could take the big step. I didn’t feel fearful at all, which is such a blessing after so much inner turmoil, anxiety and so much questioning.

Not bothered by other people’s expectations and projections, I am enjoying the freedom and confidence a higher level of maturity brings. Having gone through a lot of comparing and feelings of inadequacy, getting the urge to run away so many times, I feel stable now, I feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be, where I have chosen to be, with my new partner, taking a new name that I love, living in a new house that we’re making into a home, wearing new clothes and new shoes, on a brand new day, in my brand new life. Exactly what I was dreaming of.

Nothing is what it used to be. Before the wedding day a lot of memories from my past lives visited and even haunted me for a while, making me nostalgic, sad and even regretful at times. It felt as if all the past ghosts wanted to visit and say goodbye before I stepped over the threshold and into my new life. No, the whole thing was not just a formality (as I initially thought it might come down to).

When we first stepped into the church, exactly one month and a day before the wedding, I knew that was it – we’d found the place. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, still quite warm, and we had an ultra sound appointment at the medical center next to the church, on the same street as the university I attended more than ten years before. The receptionist told us the doctor was late, so we went out and decided to visit the church. Such a pleasant, quiet and warm atmosphere! When the priest – white haired, kind, smiling and sociable, probably in his late fifties – came out and gave us a brief introduction in the history of the church (dating since the late 1700s), I was sure.

Among other fascinating pieces of information, he tells us it’s the only church where a woman has ever been allowed to preach in the orthodox church – Olga Greceanu, who also painted part of the church. It’s my church, I’m thinking, feeling happier and happier about the discovery. “When I first entered the church, more that twenty years ago, I just knew this was my church.” the priest adds, and I know for sure he’s one of my kind. Which later proves right, as he performs the wedding ceremony and then comes out of the church with us to tell us more stories and we are all amazed at so many coincidences, which make us exclaim one more time: “It’s such a small world!”

I was happy my parents were there, although I admit the thought felt a bit irritating in the beginning. Their presence, with their warm smile and affection, their hearts pounding and palms sweating, their discretion and decency, their respect, strong support and warm love – everything made me feel I am so lucky to have them as my parents, despite the more difficult childhood years and the conflicts we’ve had. It all melted away in the light of new love and newly found common ground – a magical place where I felt our hearts met.

This week, the 38th week, I’m feeling slower and I’m getting tired more easily. It’s an interesting feeling – not being able to rush. Slowing down always brings me closer to myself, helps me become more aware of my breath, the sensations in my body and my thoughts. I notice the rush around me as I’m walking in the street and I’m feeling so lucky to be in a totally different world. It’s as if I were the center of the tornado sometimes. Still and heavy, a pregnant whale floating in the vastness of the ocean casting its waves on faraway beaches. Sometimes the heaviness of the belly or the sudden baby kicks hurt, but they’re still so beautiful. Well, a whale is luckier since she doesn’t have to take toilet trips every two hours (be it night or day), like I do… I’m still feeling so beautiful, in spite of the heaviness.

On the other hand, the nesting instinct (of which I used to think was a mere marketing invention or at best a pretext for bored housewives) having taken over me, I can’t stop making preparations, although I know the best way to spend this time is simply to rest… “Maybe you can find the time to stop and enjoy the last week you’re carrying your baby inside you… It’s a miracle you have there.” a friend writes and I decide to follow her wise advice.

So… I’ve made lamps for the entire house, a felt and wool raining cloud to hang over the changing table, I modeled angel wings and houses out of clay and started planning Christmas gifts and decorations (the earliest I’ve ever started preparing for Christmas.!), I’ve sewed a felt ball and stuffed it with wool for the baby to play with, washed all his clothes, of course, ordered the closets, drawers and shelves…

And so much more. I keep thinking after I finish preparing, we can just relax, take naps, cuddle and enjoy the nest. And that after the baby comes, we can focus on him and not worry about anything else… I know it doesn’t really work like that, but that’s what I’m dreaming of.

You know, I’ve discovered that even when you are in charge of your own time and you can set your own rhythm and schedule, if you’re used to being busy, then you’ll be busy all the time, you’ll always have a long to do list you just can’t get to the bottom of because every day you add more and more tasks to it. I feel like laughing at myself for that, but still cannot help overdoing it. And walking long distances, which still feels great.

taking long walks in the third trimester of pregnancy

My birthday is coming up this Monday, so I’m evaluating the time since my last birthday and find it amazing! It’s been the year with the greatest changes ever! But this is for another blog post, coming up soon unless the baby decides to come out sooner that that. By the way, I expect birth to be the most amazing experience ever, intense and smooth and also funny (why not?) and moving and rewarding. Oh and then Christmas as a new family… I’m feeling so grateful for such precious gifts!

PS Photos of the big day (taken by our friend) are still on their way.

 

 

“Have you ever felt the ground falling from beneath your feet?”

The thin, short haired lactation consultant asks the three of us, sitting with our hands resting on our bumps at this white, round table in a shabby chic corner tea house in the old city of Bucharest, the only customers this sunny summer morning.

And I’m suddenly back twelve years ago.

“I want us to split”, my boyfriend tells me bluntly, sitting legs apart in the small, torn armchair by the balcony door in our rented studio five bus stops away from the University square in Bucharest. “I don’t love you anymore,” he adds, stretching his long legs across the Turkish carpet in dusty shades of blue on top of the worn out linoleum covering the floor.

I’m mute for a few seconds and I feel my throat exploding and wonder if I’m ever gonna be able to utter a sound again. At the same time, I remember our love making the night before and the goodbye kisses that very morning and the “I love you” before he closed the door behind him and went to work. They all seem like faint memories from another lifetime. What’s happened in the meantime? When did I die? I have no job ’cause “you’ve just finished university, don’t get hired just yet, let’s travel this summer” and nowhere to go. I can’t breathe.

Five months later, having spent about a month apart, we are married. Too afraid of loneliness, both of us, to pass the opportunity. Nine years later we are divorced. On our ten year wedding anniversary we sign the bank papers so I’ll no longer be part of the mortgage contract on our commonly held apartment – a home so hard to leave behind. That same day also happens to be the first day of my last menstruation before I get pregnant.

The two lines on the pregnancy test, on March 8, at around 3 am leave no ground beneath my feet, nothing to hold on to,  and force big tears out of my eyes like in a manga comic. Happiness and panic, two long and slippery snakes mating in my solar plexus. Another burial awaits – the girl I used to be is struck dead by two pink lines on a white background she’s just peed on, alone in her boyfriend’s bathroom, the whole universe spinning around her. Yet never again alone, to be accurate.

Then the phone call I get when I am 15 from my first lover, announcing me he’s cheated on me and “I need to meet that girl and discuss our feelings for each other… I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.” I can’t talk. The dirty receiver is heavy in my right hand and my thighs are getting wet as I’m kneeling by the bedside cabinet of my ground floor neighbors, who keep poking their heads around the door to check up on me from time to time. We don’t have our own phone, you see. I have to go down two floors to take the call, leave my corpse on my neighbors’ bedroom floor and then carry my ghost back upstairs again.

Then it’s early morning again, last year in spring, and I’m standing in front of the bed in that scruffy hotel room in Sultanahmet in Istanbul, dimly lit through the thick and brown heavy curtains. Ten years younger than me, short and handsome, amber skin, light brown hair, thick eyebrows and long lashes, full lips covering his tobacco stained teeth, my Syrian lover seems perfect. I’ve taken a shower, put my makeup on, got dressed, packed my suitcase and I’m ready to leave. And I can’t. I can’t wake him up. I can’t open and close that bloody door behind me.

I can’t stop looking at him sleeping there, so vulnerable, his bare chest moving up and down with his soft breath, a bent knee resting over the white sheet, his toes almost reaching the wooden side of the bed. I feel my chest exploding in a thousand pieces at the sight; silently and deadly. I’m perfectly aware I’ll probably never see him again. “Don’t make it difficult”, he says, seeing my face as I pull myself together and wake him up,  whispering his name while running my hand over his face. “Take care of yourself, Dhana”, he advises, knowing I’ll never listen. “Just go…”, he adds when I go back the second time for one last kiss. Minutes later, in the car seat taking me to the airport, I say goodbye to the sea.

“How do you know?”, the Cancer boy I’ve met using a dating app asks me, his big, beautiful eyes resting on my lips, unable to look higher. Lying flat on my belly in his bed, I tell him exactly what he did on a specific day in December last year, precisely one week after our first date. “I hate lies”, I warn him. “Please forgive me, I promise I’ll never lie to you again. Can we just leave this behind us? We have so much to do together…” I know I can’t trust him about the first part, but I am perfectly aware he’s absolutely right about the last part. Still, a leftover from the innocent me dies in this scene, too.  About a month and a half later, in the same bed, a strong light warms up my womb as if a comet hit the earth and I describe the whole experience in my diary the next morning, so that five weeks later, holding the two lined test in my hand, I find the exact conception date: Valentine’s day/ night. Three weeks after that, manga tears again as I’m listening to my baby’s heart during the first ultrasound in the doctor’s office.

“Yes, I have…” I answer when the lactation consultant says it’s my turn. The other two expecting mothers have already spoken while my memories were flooding my brain like a swollen river on a sunny day in mid spring, when the snow melts all at once.

“And? What can you share with us?”

“You know, my life has changed so much and so many times… And there have been moments when I felt I couldn’t breathe, when there was absolutely nothing familiar to hold on to anymore, nothing to cling to, seemingly no one and nothing to rely on… I’ve felt driven out of my own life. I’ve died. And I’ve survived every time. The hardest thing, feeling suddenly suspended in mid air, was having enough patience to get to the bottom of the pit, having enough patience to fall all the way, to hit the ground. Then crawl and cry down there for as long as necessary and climb back up again. To a new life. I’ve survived all my deaths… Every time… All of us do.” I answer, giggling at the revelation, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and confidence filling me up as my left elbow reaches behind over the bentwood chair back, to make room for my growing heart.

There’s a short silence as the three smiling women are all looking at me as if I’ve just said something important.

PS Attachment is the name of the monster I’m learning to tame.

PPS Took this photo in Văcărești natural park earlier this week – felt like early fall is creeping in…

sunset in vacaresti natural park

On fear, bravery and waterfalls

I am the bravest person I know personally. And still, a part of me is so afraid…

That’s what I’m thinking the other night, unable to sleep.

Afraid of all the changes I am going through, in spite of wanting them so much. Afraid of what the future might bring, afraid of losing control, afraid of making mistakes, afraid of loss, afraid of heartache, afraid of my own body having a life of its own, beyond my control.

And right then and there, fighting through the burning sensation in the overstretched skin on my abdomen, rolling over on to my other side, it dawns on me. Being brave does not exclude being afraid. Of course I am afraid. Experiencing fear is part of human experience and absolutely no one is exempt from it. Being brave means you don’t let fear bring you down. It means you go on no matter what. It means you stand up for yourself. It means you confront your fears, you dive into them, find out their names, and pull through. And that is the only way ahead.

Being brave means having trust. An immutable trust in life to carry you further no matter what. On your own blessed path. Nothing, absolutely nothing can go wrong. There is no such thing as failure. And I have no doubt about it.

So yes, I am afraid. And I am brave enough to admit it. My most precious dream is coming true and I am more afraid than ever. The stakes are high, you see. And then, in the light of this new understanding, I tune in to my baby and feel his strong kicks in my belly. He is real. There can be no doubt about it. He has come to me. Shortly after my travel companion came. It all seemed long overdue for all three of us. So, like waterfalls, we pour into one another’s lives, swiping away everything else. Here we are.

The first day in Bucharest after a week on the island

It feels as if I were going through the long corridors of a mental institution. What is wrong with these people? I wonder.

The metro ride seems to last forever and I’m looking at people’s faces for a while, before getting out my book. A guy smelling of alcohol sits next to me and keeps falling asleep and over me. After two stops he is replaced by an overweight lady, who strategically places her big shopping bag full of groceries over my foot. I carefully extract it and she has no intention to apologize. I miss the cold politeness and remoteness on the fringes of autism of he Nordic countries.  Patience, my dear, I tell myself and go on reading the story  about a girl who has no friends and she can see and talk to ghosts.

I interrupt my reading to get off the train and find that it gets more bearable when I get into the park and among the trees, in a shaded alley, where I sit on a bench and enjoy the light being filtered by the leaf curtain. A girl gets up from a nearby bench, mounts her bike and rides off, the water in her plastic bottle fastened behind her seat sending rays of light to the tree trunks lining the alley. I miss my carefree bike riding, having only myself to think of. And as soon as I write this I my head I wonder if that’s even true. If indeed I ever only had myself to worry about and if indeed I miss those times when I longed for my travel companion and a family.

I take out my book, “Stories of the Peculiar”, and finish the story I started on my metro ride to the park. The girl in the story eventually falls in love with a living man, he loves her back, they move in together and have kids.

I am secretly hoping for a happy end, though I am afraid of a disappointment. That is why I don’t reject the possibility of a tragedy. It’s there, masking my hope for a happy end for fear I might look stupid (even to myself) for imagining pure happiness.

When I come to the end, after the ghosts of her dead parents and sister find her in her new home, having looked for her for a long time, and I read the ending

ending of story

I realize I do have a fear of happiness. When everything is fine I am afraid of things going wrong. I tend to be secretive about my plans until they have worked out for fear that spelling them out might spoil their chances of coming true.

I miss our holiday mood.

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The end of a journey

‘Congratulations! Welcome to the fourth grade!” I shake this long haired boy’s hand and then bend forward and take him into my arms, having carefully placed a beautiful flower coronet on his head. “I can’t wait to meet you again, on numerous happy occasions.” I continue in a low voice, close to his ear. “I love you!” I tell him grabbing his shoulders and looking him straight in the eye.

“I love you too…” he whispers, throwing his arms around me again and squeezing me hard.

This is a child I was advised to give up on back when I took the class two years ago.

“If I were you”, the school mentor told me in a one to one discussion, “I’d take the class on condition that he leaves. You can’t handle him. I wouldn’t keep him either, and I am so much more experienced than you are.”

I disregarded the advice and took the class the way it was.  He was not the most challenging child.

My greatest accomplishment as a class teacher is not what I have managed to teach my kids in these two years we’ve spent together. Not even being able to ‘handle’ them. I have loved all of them – this is my greatest accomplishment. And I have been loved by all of them.  I have made a significant difference. In their lives and in the world. I will never be forgotten. And they will always be a part of me. They have helped shape who I am today perhaps as much as I have helped shape who they are now.

Going home in my new life, I’m looking at my reflection in the dark window as the noisy  train is rushing along cold and damp tunnels. The lavender in the flower coronet next to my three owls on a branch present in the paper bag I’m holding offers such a refreshing feeling.

“Would you like to sit?” I hear a voice and follow the line from the fingertips tapping my arm to the smiling face of this stout young woman, offering me her seat on the subway.

“Oh, thank you!” I reply smiling back. “It’s ok, I’m getting off at the next stop.”

I’ve really started showing.

 

 

No parachute

Having left Harmony street, I now live in Gardners’ street. So I grow stuff. Looking back now, it does feel like I have started a whole new life altogether, not merely changed the one I used to have. It has not been exactly a walk in the park. But it’s been totally worth it. Two years ago I finally put into practice a decision that changed everything. I feel so grateful for the power that was lent to me so that I could go through with all of it. A leap of faith, a jump into the unknown, no guarantees, nothing and no one to cling to except faith. Faith like a thread of light pulling me forward to a future that was only dreamed of. Knowing it is possible to make your dreams come true is the only thing we actually need to rely on the moment we make that scary jump. The rest is details. And balls.