An Interlude of Gentle Days Spent Near the Light [Interlude Edition]

Right now, time is simply flowing in a slow and gentle way.
It is the kind of slow passage of time
that makes you want to doze off when you let your guard down...

The afternoon light spilling from the window melts into the air of the room like a thin golden cloth, swaying slowly.
In that light, three cats are scattered in their favorite spots, curled up.
One rests its body on my lap with its eyes narrowed, one wags only its tail as if chasing the specks of light that have fallen onto the floor, and another stretches by the window before letting out a big yawn.
The way it opens its mouth is so defenseless, as if it is telling me, 'There is no danger here,' and my heart warms involuntarily.


The light illuminates every single hair on the cats; the white parts blur softly, and the black parts cast quiet shadows. I sometimes feel like crying for no reason at such an ordinary sight.
It is because the 'ordinary peace' that the past me could not obtain no matter how much I wanted it is now breathing right before my eyes.

The pain of the past, the suffering, and the bittersweet seasons have all piled up on top of me.
I stopped many times and felt like breaking many times. There were days when I was convinced there was no future and felt like I was sinking into darkness. The weight of those days makes my breathing shallow even now when I remember them.

But it is different now...

The light touches my shoulder as if gently stroking it, and the cats come to my side before I know it, snuggling up as if to say, 'Look, I am here.'
I take a sip of bitter coffee. That bitterness quietly reminds me of the long road I took to get here.
But it is not the bitterness that tightens my chest like it used to. It is a somewhat rounded, gentle bitterness.

Light like dappled sunlight sways and falls through the gaps in the curtains, and the pattern spreads quietly across the floor. The cats curl up within that pattern, and it slowly unravels even my heart, which had been sinking.

Before I knew it, I was quietly speaking to my past self.
—It is okay. After crossing the long night, such a gentle time was waiting for you, I say.

Perhaps that is why I am now gathering up the past and writing.
So that this gentle present may reach the me who was in that darkness, and anyone else who is lost in the same way...

I take a deep breath in the silence before dawn.
Yesterday's sadness and the heavy pain feel a little further away.
Outside the small window, the wind shakes the trees, and the soft air wraps around my skin.
A moment when my heart gently relaxes at the feel of freshly washed sheets and the scent of fragrant bread.
No matter how painful the days are, there is always a future where you can welcome such a gentle morning.
Even when you are lamenting and grieving in despair, when the time comes to look back, you might find that something precious has been left deep in your heart.
May hope quietly reach the heart of someone who is suffering right now...

While wrapped in the sound of a cat's breathing, the flickering of light, and the aroma of coffee...
Letting go of the tension in my shoulders just a little.
Today, too, I turn the page of my life.

✴︎✴︎✴︎Thank you for reading again today✴︎✴︎✴︎