Lovers Lane

Pathways

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. – Anonymous

Funny, but how different things look when you add a little perspective to the journey. Sometimes you never realize how far you've come until you take a look back.

Like that time in a land far away when as a university freshman I'd pick my way down the campus Sunken Garden on a narrow path that was about one-and-a-half miles long.

The so-called Lovers Lane.

With a pair of color-changing mood earrings bobbing with every skip and a hop, I would traverse my favorite shortcut to my euthenics class.

Can’t be late for Spinster Rafols’ class, I said under my breath.

I had traveled that road over and over and over again.

The air was warm. I caught a faint whiff of cinnamon from the kalingag tree.
The campus, from a story I’ve heard before while having lunch at the Kamia Residence Hall, was located above a fault line. Alas, the Sunken Garden and the main library were slowly sinking two centimeters (roughly .78 inches) every year.

I didn’t care.

From my vantage point, the scenery was great.

I especially loved the kapok trees. Now that summer had started to set in, they were in full bloom, their pods releasing cotton-like balls that looked almost like snow when they fell to the ground. The fires trees were a sight to behold as well, turning the street crimson.

The sky was bright as far as I could see. 

On a far corner of the grassy ground, I spotted a group of coeds hanging out. Someone with a book in hand was sitting under an acacia tree. A few others were cuddling. 

I arrived in a huff. Just in time for the lecture on social graces. Always cross your legs when wearing a skirt. Chew like you have a secret. And what I thought was totally laughable, Ladies don’t eat an ice cream cone while walking on the street.

The clouds had turned pink and golden with the late afternoon sun on my way back on Lovers Lane to the AS Building. I was rushing and huffing and puffing to catch Prof Rao’s Psych 101 class when a sudden startling thought occurred to me, I need to slow down.

And stop.

And breathe.

And savor.

Lovers Lane would be there to cordially invite me each day, each week, and every season of my life.

It wasn't the destination but the journey that mattered. My journey was about to begin. Or had it begun already?

I nodded, blowing out a breath, Buckle up, buttercup. 

And take those mood earrings with you.