…a reconciliation…finding .me.

Friday, July 10th 3:22 pm

Good afternoon everyone!

What a beautiful day! I took it off from work because I saw the forecast and decided it was going to be the best day of the weekend. It certainly has turned out that way too – just a few clouds and a bit of a breeze – really nice and relaxing!

I just came back from two and a half hours of rollerblading – I left at 10:30 and returned just after 1:00 pm. All in all I covered just over 19 kilometres!! Needless to say I am just – a bit – tired!

Instead of writing a normal blog entry I think I will entertain you with a fun short story I wrote.

The Clouds

Beth had always lived inside the house. Ever since she was little. She never went outside. Ever.

She remembered a time when she played outside all the time. She felt free as a bird. She danced and sang with no inhibitions!! It was a wonderful time!!!

Then the clouds came.

When she saw them, she was so scared that she rushed inside the first house she could find.

At first she didn’t mind it. “Clouds are scary things, I better stay inside for my own good!”, she reasoned, “They’ll go away soon and then I can go outside again and dance and sing like I used to!!”.

But the clouds didn’t go away. They stayed.

And stayed.

And stayed.

And stayed.

Soon, her eyes lost their sparkle and her mouth lost its’ smile. She became more and more unhappy. She couldn’t understand why she had to stay inside all the time. She wasn’t really afraid of the clouds! She thought to herself, “I can dance and sing under the clouds just as well as the sun! Why do I have to hide inside?”.

She heard people whisper as they walked by her house. She got the feeling that it might be dangerous for people ‘like her’ out there.

So she stayed inside.

But that didn’t stop her from wanting to be outside.

Everyday she got up and peered out the windows – looking at the people who weren’t afraid of the clouds.

“How come they are outside – don’t they know how dangerous it is?” she thought.

She saw the girls in the pretty dresses and wondered how she would look in them.

Sometimes, she would even catch the attention of someone who was walking by – a cute guy who would stop by and talk to her or a nice girl whom she could share her thoughts with.

The older she got the more confining the house seemed to her and the less threatening the clouds were.

She wondered to herself, “If all of those other people are outside enjoying themselves then why can’t I?”

“It’s just not fair”, she concluded.

So she decided right then and there that she had to do whatever she could to get herself out of the house.

The first place she tried was the front door, hoping to simply walk out.

But when she arrived there, she found that it was locked and had been nailed shut – from the outside.

“Why would anyone be afraid of me?” she thought, “I wouldn’t even hurt a fly!”.

So she went to the windows – only to find that they were nailed shut too! And anyways, they were far too small for her to fit through!

She was really starting to get frustrated!

“I just want out!!!!”, she cried from the window, “Can’t anyone help me!!”.

But the previously friendly people just looked at her and sneered, “We don’t want people ‘like you’ out here. You just aren’t normal”.

“Maybe, they’re right,” she thought, “Maybe I’m not normal. But I do so want to dance and sing!”

She reasoned that she needed to think about it some more so she decided to ‘sleep on it’ and see how she felt the next day.

The next day was worse!

She now knew she absolutely had to get out or burn the house down trying!!

And then magical things started happening.

She found that her voice became louder than it ever had been before. It was loud enough that she found she could talk to other people who had been shut in houses just like her!

Those others told her fantastic tales of people escaping from the locked houses and getting a chance to dance and sing again!!

The more she spoke to her neighbours, the more she began to notice that there was light coming through the edges of the door and that the windows were getting larger.

“I’ll bet that one day soon I will be able to walk right out that door!!”, she thought to herself.

And then, one day, she did.

She gathered up all her strength and pushed as hard as she could.

And the door opened!!

The first thing she noticed was that there were no clouds anymore – it was bright and sunny!!!

And then she noticed the people.

They were smiling at her!!

What a wonderful surprise!!!

She was so happy that she laughed, she danced and she sang all at once!!!!

She didn’t have to hide anymore – there was nothing to be scared of after all!

And she lived happily ever after!!

(I am sure there is a story about her finding her prince too, but I haven’t heard that one… yet!!)

Love,

Marybeth