Skip to main content

Mask Off

Love confuses the senses. It tricks us into seeing what is not there.

To her indiscretions, I was not blind. Nevertheless, my capacity for forgiveness seemed to far exceed her ability too shame me. All the while I maintained an air of cool dispassion in an effort to give her space and freedom so as not to drive her away.

Came in to find our little princess all on her own. The house, suspectingly quiet. All her attention focused on...wait! Is that our photo album? Page after page she flipped. My effort to get her attention off the album and to my arrival proved futile. Gone are the days when kids would run to their parents with arms wide open, just so as to receive that warm hug from one tired parent. Now that I'm here, I tend to think parents need that more than their kids do.

Relieved myself of that coat I had all day. Such a relief. Lessened that tie and just as I went to put it down, something caught my eye. Still, I brushed it off as mere speculation. Un-cuffed my shirt. No way!  Of the three packs of rough riders we kept somewhere on the dressing table, two were missing. Love is blind huh! Guess I was not to see that.

With our little princess on one lap, still she did not want to let go of the album. I tried to explain to her where and when each of the photos were taken. Not that she understood a thing. All this while trying to distract myself from the facts that were smiling and making faces in my mind.

Looking at the photos, I reflect back on our time together and am amazed by my patience and quiet resolve to maintain what I have come to know as the status quo. Such forbearance and fortitude in the face of her constant betrayals. She had me loving her from day one and I thought I had her loving me. United by body and soul.

It has been five years ever since we met. Three years ever since we made our vows. Our vows said true are now worth less. Time flies. At one point in time, we had loved each other. on my lap, was the fruit of our love. Our love, once sturdy like granite against a storm has now been eroded by elements of distrust, unspoken discontents and very bitter jealousies. Now what is left is but only pictorial evidence of a love that once was.

Trying to find her balance, she staggers into the living room. At this point, I'm really putting up a fight to keep my tears back in their place. Still, I have them locked into hers. All this while, the silence that had struck the room, pin drop.

Turning the last page, she looked up to see what a mess her mommy was. She then turned, looked at me. Oh! That innocent face she wore. "What is wrong with mommy?" Not knowing what to say to her, what answer to give that would explain everything, I smile and hold her against my chest and just whisper, "mommy will be okay." It is then that it hit me. I should have been honest with myself. True to my feelings. I should have discarded all pretense and removed the mask. The mask of a patient husband. I had it on for way too long, but my noble efforts were in vain as I appeared to her, merely indifferent.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why Her Not Me?

Slowly I learn. I'm learning that being kind to myself is not being selfish. I'm learning that my body, my body is mine, and is not to be compared to any other. Slowly I learn that if you ever want to fall in love, you fall not for words, but for actions. You fall for the way their presence makes you warm, not the way their compliments make you blush. Fall like petals, ever so slowly and with all of your grace, not too hard into a place still unknown. If I had a thousand lives, I'd learn all the languages. But I only have one, so I will take pain to master the language that will bring us together, closer than ever, till the beginning of forever. I thought love was portrayed wrong in the movies, because how could something that beautiful be so effortless. I  thought it was supposed to be hard. That it meant I had to heal somebody for them to be able to love me. You showed me how wrong I could be. Now as I reflect on the taste of your lips, I know I let true love slip through...

Trial and Error

  "Confused by your words and tempted by desire, I let you steal my heart. Then you tore it in two. While others saw it as lust and impulse, I, for a moment, thought ours would be a symbol of never letting go. The ache in my soul ripped at my gut. I burnt from within. My skin was on fire. Loneliness consumed me. I built a wall so high to keep the world out. The calm on my face was an ongoing sin. Hiding the pain. Hiding the hurt." His sheets were a shade of red. Her body lay motionless by his side. So peaceful and serene. Himself, head in hands. Eyes flooded with tears. He definitely felt like a bad person. Playing two hearts but also playing with his own. It felt like one was forever and the other for the moment. But the moment felt right. What if, the moment is not only for the moment, and it's forever too? 

Between Dreams & Reality

Sometimes, the most precious things in the world are meant to fly free. They are yours for only a moment before they slip away, leaving you with a haunting sense of what-ifs. I’ve been in relationships before, but this time was different. This time, I was truly happy. She was like the scent of freshly brewed coffee in the morning. Falling for her felt like summer rain—at first, a light drizzle, then a hurricane; with thunder and lightning, intense and fast, meant to dishevel, but never to last. I still remember the first time we spoke. There was an immediate connection, like an invisible thread tying us together, something strong and unbreakable. When I say unbreakable, I mean that no matter how hard we tried to distance ourselves or un-feel what was between us, the invisible string kept pulling us back together. This was different from any relationship I had before. It made me reflect deeply and left me wondering. If she had stayed, maybe I could have loosened the threads enough t...