08
My destination was Iceland.
I was staying in a seaside town, where the
Atlantic and Arctic oceans meet. I could see
the ocean from my window.
Further south, surrounded by green fields, I
found the red house for vision tests. I realized
that it really exists.
The wind was blowing, and the grass danced.
It was beautiful.
I joined a tour group. The guide, an Asian
woman, was very knowledgeable, and led us
through many must–see places, and showed
us the best places to eat.
<
There was a young couple on the tour.
They were lovey–dovey the entire time.
I had seen the guy practicing his proposal
speech over and over, taking three days to
perfect it.
Finally, at the Roman ruins, under a rain of
roses, he proposed to his girlfriend.
“Honey, will you marry me?”
Even though he had practiced so many times,
the proposal came out worse than the first
time.
Clumsy, hesitant, but sincere.
“Yes
く
The girl accepted the ring, her eyes wet with
tears, and amidst cheers and applause, she
hugged him tightly.
They held each other close.
With rose petals falling all around them, it
was like they had found their whole world.
On the way back, the boy went to pack his things, while the girl sat next to me. She carefully touched the ring on her finger, then saw the faint mark on my ring finger where I used to wear a ring.
She blinked at me. “Did you get married?”
“Yeah.”
The girl was a natural chatterbox WIL
<
The girl was a natural chatterbox. When she
realized I was a married woman, she got
curious. “How old were you when you got
married? I just started working, so maybe it’s too early for me to say yes to him?”
She was young.
Her eyes were full of hope for the future, love for her partner, and trepidation about
marriage.
She was scared of choosing the wrong
person and making a wrong turn.
Not like me.
In my youth, I had chosen Liam with such
naivete.
<
I had thought that love could conquer all.
But I learned the hard way that love created
the problems, and that marriage only caused
me pain and grief.
My marriage had been a failure.
So I had no right to give her any advice about
love or relationships.
I simply told her, “I got married at twenty-
three. I’m thirty–two now, and I’m about to
get divorced. For me, marriage has nothing to. do with age. If you’re in love, get together. If you’re not, split. Try to keep it simple.”
The girl nodded, looking a little confused. Then she asked, “Are you getting divorced because you don’t love him anymore?”
<
I nodded, smiling. “Yeah. We can’t stand the
sight of each other.”
