Stolen

Stolen

For the girl, the day started as usual.

An early wake-up, a morning shower, a quick breakfast, and a heavy load of unfinished winter holiday homework. It was a repeat of her previous day and every other day in the past week.

Everything looked usual. Even the weather was continuing with its usual. As if Heaven was kind enough to wait for the winter holiday to begin, so she could find a forgivable excuse to complete her heavy load of unfinished winter holiday homework and release all the reserved rains she had been holding back.

For the girl, her day started as usual.

Everything was as usual, except for one thing: the day was unusual.

* * *

During her short winter holiday, the girl found her homework to be a heavy burden. She made an effort to divide her time equally between resting, sleeping in as late as her parents' holiday mood permitted, watching her favorite cartoons, indulging in her preferred snacks, celebrating Chinese New Year at her mother's village, meeting new people, visiting old friends, and sneaking away to play as much as possible.

Given all these activities, one might agree that completing a heavy load of unfinished winter holiday homework would be challenging to fit into such a busy, yet enjoyable, schedule.

However, a father who was not willing to compromise on any of these enjoyable holiday tasks, in addition to ensuring that not only his daughter had completed her homework but also that she did so exceptionally, was determined to end the holiday on a high note. Therefore, a decision was made that the girl should take extra classes to help her with her homework.

A girl, a holiday, an enjoyable time, a load of homework, and a short period of time. These elements created a seemingly hard-to-balance equation. Yet, adding the father’s unwavering focus assured that such an equation would not only be balanced but also be perfectly solved as well. And that is how the daily journey to the extra classes was added to the girl’s morning routine. It became part of her schedule, an additional task in her morning to-do list in preparation for a mundane day. Another aspect of the day reinforced the idea that breaking free from this monotonous cycle is challenging. Today will likely offer nothing new; it will resemble yesterday, and it will be like every other day, a usual.

Until one day came.

It was a slightly cooler morning. The girl went to bed early the night before, which blessed her with an early wake-up. This helped her complete her morning tasks easily and in a shorter time than usual. As the journey began on the back of her father’s electric scooter, it didn't take long for them to realise that there were still thirty minutes left before classes started. Thirty minutes during which they had no tasks to complete, no homework to worry about, and no usual. Thirty minutes just for the father and his daughter.

With this unexpected free time, the father was tempted to pause for his usual morning espresso, but with an addition he seldom includes in his coffee order: a slice of cake.

The coffee shop welcomed the couple, a father and his daughter, with a usual order: a cup of coffee and a piece of cake. As they waited for their order, all the dots started connecting in the father’s mind. It seemed as if the father’s ‘usual’ destiny points finally granted him a single unusual day. A good day, you may say, a happy day, a special day, or, in other words, a Valentine’s Day.

And unsurprisingly, to complete the circle of happy destiny, there was only one heart-shaped cake left. As if destiny had generously found a way to bribe the bakery to prepare it in the girl’s favourite colour, a colour that might not have been the day’s usual colour, however, it was the girl’s favourite colour.

You see, the colour of the day is red. Everything on any given Valentine’s Day is always expected to be a shade of that three-letter colour. That is, and has always been, the day’s usual. However, the cake that destiny had reserved for the girl was not red; it came in pink, and Pink was the girl’s middle name.

And while enjoying every passing minute of what was left of those happy thirty minutes, the father started wondering how to recreate such moments with his daughter, or with whomever he has in his life. Despite all the logical attempts and wise steps, the father realised that this task is anything but easy.

Let’s agree that it is not easy to prepare for happy moments, just as it is not difficult to be in a happy mood. However, ensuring that a trip, a lunch, a meeting, a movie night, a coffee gathering, or any other variation of life events will end up being remembered as a happy moment seems nearly impossible for the father now.

We may plan, prepare, and hope, but a journey, a meeting, a trip, a lunch, a movie night, or a coffee gathering only reveals its happy moments after it concludes. Despite all our plans, preparations, and hopes, there is no guarantee that those moments will be remembered as happy memories.

It seems that the words ‘plan’ and ‘happiness’ are not a good match. The word ‘happiness’ seems to require another verb to complete its collocation. Verbs like plan, prepare, arrange, or even hope do not seem to be the right choice for happiness.

It is as if happiness requires a daring, brave, or risk-taking verb. The word demands not to be requested with polite permission but rather seized with bold action. It appears that happiness can only be embraced by those who 'steal’ it and is simply waiting to be ‘stolen’.

A stolen moment of happiness is the deserved reward for those who dare to fight their usual. And for those who were lucky enough to enjoy their stolen happiness, I would like to say:

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Stolen Moment!

***

For my daughter, her day started as usual.

An early wake-up, a morning shower, a short breakfast, a heavy load of homework, a scooter ride, a study trip, a loving father, and a stolen moment of happiness, as the long-awaited unusual.

#the_colour_water_stolen