She stepped out of her car and smoothed her dressed nervously. She looked around at a very full parking lot, and her head screamed “IT’S SUICIDE. DON’T DO IT”.
She had no reason to be at this school reunion. This was an event to unabashed show off personal and professional success and she could boast of neither. She was not a ‘successful’ person. She had a modest job, and her biggest failure according to her mother was that she was still single.
She pulled in her stomach to make her less then perfect figure look better; she seriously intended to hold her breath that way for the rest of the party. As she entered the crowded hall full of men, women and children while walking on those uncomfortable and high heeled shoes, her inner voice protested one last time “Don’t put yourself through this, you don’t have to”.
What she faced for next three hours were stories of professional and financial success, the dazzle of the diamond rings, sagas of loving children and fables of perfect marriages. Her classmates with whom she spent her childhood were changed people, they spoke only establish their achievements and outshine each other; as if they were serious competitors in the game called life. They talked about their busy schedules, gym routines for perfect bodies, favorite cars, foreign vacations, perfect house, prodigy kids and some even of well bred pets.
She was disturbed by the fact that she had no stories to share. She could not ignore the look of compassion she got, when she disclosed she taught at a school and was still single; or the look of arrogance that was thrown at her, when they realized of that they had beaten her in the game.
She let out a loud sigh of relief when she retuned to her car. The lonely interiors of her second hand car never seemed so warm and soothing. As she held the steering she noticed there was some yellow paint in the engravings of her ring. Today she taught her class of autistic children how to paint Sun. She smiled as she recalled those smiling faces, most with paint on them. The grey clouds of thought lifted, she realized her game of life was a little different and she was definitely winning it.
