grace

On one Saturday in the countryside, the last time I was there, when the school had already started, and the fall was pushing summer out, I went to take photos on the seaside. I decided to walk down the shoreline, stepping from a rock to rock, my mind travelling back to the childhood when I walked like this from one village to another, then of course in light summer clothes and barefoot. On this Saturday the weather required sneakers, jeans, t-shirt and a cardigan, and my destination was mere two hundred meters away.  

Being on the seaside was my attempt to hold on to the summer, to forget the already growing duty list, and to pretend I was forever young. The rocks on the shore were low and flat and conveniently close to each other. A smooth calm sea on the left and reed standing tall on the right, I took slow and careful steps to move to the next path that would take me back home. 

Suddenly one of my foot slipped into the water, and when I hadn't even fully registered this, the other slipped too and I lost my balance and landed with my bottom in the water. So there I was, ridiculously ungraceful, sitting in low water between rocks, a laughable sight. Not many choices of what to do next. I stood up and continued walking with grace, ignoring my sneakers squelching and sleeves of cardigan dripping of water, not to mention the wetness seeping through the jeans. On the good side, my bones were intact, phone dry in my pocket and home close by. 

I think of this fall on the days when I feel that I have lost my balance, when my best intentions end with a failure. It makes me chuckle thinking back to how silly I looked and felt and I know that I will be ok.  

Sometimes we may fall, and then we stand up again, and even when we get wet, we can keep the back straight, hold the head up high and walk on.