For Auld Lang Syne… a New Year’s Eve Musing

And so once again we stand 

At the precipice of a brand new year

A brand new book 

With  365 blank pages waiting to be filled

But before we begin to filling these  pages 

Before we begin composing our stories 

Let’s give thanks to the year  gone by

Let’s write an afterword 

Showing our appreciation for all it gave us

Cause through the highs and lows

The ups and downs

The losses and gains

The tears and smile

The happiness and sorrows 

It has shaped us

It has forged us

It has made us

Stronger to face 

Whatever that may come our way 

It has given us opportunities 

It has filled us with experience 

To overcome whatever life may throw at us 

So while we welcome a brand new year

We thank you dear old friend

For being ever at our side 

For teaching us the lessons 

We needed to learn 

For which we will forever be grateful 

So here’s to the new year 

And to the year gone by

And to days of Aud lang syne

The Old and the New

In another few hours and we will be ushering in another new year, glad to put the old one behind us, looking forward to the new one that stands in front us, just eagerly waiting for this one be over and done with and looking forward to a fresh new start.

But while we eagerly and wholeheartedly welcome a brand new year let’s not forget the one that’s gone by.

Yes it’s been a tough one, but we’ve survived it and come out alive and stronger, even though there were times we thought we would not make it through. Even though there were times we thought putting an end to it. But here we are, at the end, well make that almost at the end, of another year, a little stronger, a little wiser (hopefully), a lot older and greyer, hoping not to repeat what we have done in the past.

We have made our mistakes, but we need to learn from it so as to never repeat it again, owning up to our actions, facing up to the consequences of it. But let’s not be afraid or runaway from it. Let’s face it and learn from it. We have fallen a couple of times but remember that with each fall we managed to dust ourselves off and get back on our feet and continue on. 

And let’s face it, not the entire year has been bad, there have been moments of happiness, moments of triumph, moments that will help us weather any bad day.

Yes the year has been tough, but which year isn’t. Every  new year we hope it will be better than the old one, and at the end of the year we say the same. 

So rather than hope make the year better. If you need to pivot, make the pivot. Do what you need to do to make each year better. But don’t never give up.

There’s nothing wrong with hoping but it’s always better when you do and make your life the one that you hoped for.

Every year is going to be tough. But tougher the years the tougher you are, cause through the tears and the sorrow and the pain and the loss you’ll grow. 

You were single at the start of the year and you’re still single at its end and there no telling how long you’ll be the same, but then that’s ok. You’ll always hope to find someone. But one thing for sure you’ll never loose faith in love finding it’s way to you.

So while we welcome another year, let’s give thanks to another year gone by for all the lessons it has taught us, all the experiences and opportunities and all the memories, cause through it all it has shaped us and will continue to shape us for all the days to come. So thanks to the year gone by, cause no matter what, we will be always grateful you.

Be kind.. to yourself!!

Be kind to yourself 

People will come and go

You is all you’ll have 

So if you can show kindness to others

The why not be kind to yourself!

Don’t be too heard on yourself 

Learn to forgive yourself 

For all the missteps and mistakes 

No one is perfect 

So if you can learn to forgive others

Why not forgive yourself!

Allow yourself to mourn 

Mourn the passing of a loved one

Mourn the difficult parting

Mourn heartbreaks and break ups

Mourn endings

And then let the healing begin

And move on

Be not afraid to cry

To find those teardrops in your eye

Cause not matter what the world says

There’s no shame in crying

Cause when you do 

You let your bottled emotions flow

So be not afraid to shed a tear or two!

Accept yourself for who you are 

Cause we are not always perfect 

Perfection may or may not be a myth

But remember we are all flawed

Perfectly imperfect the way we are

So embrace your flaws and imperfection 

So that’s what makes you!!!

Learn to love yourself 

Like the love to you give to others

Why not give some for yourself 

Cause it’s only when you love yourself 

That you can love anyone else 

So please give a lot of love to yourself!!!

So be kind to yourself 

Others may not always be kind to you 

Your kindness may not always be reciprocated 

So nor matter what don’t give up 

Don’t ever change 

But be kind to yourself 

Cause that’s the way you find 

the hope and strength to carry on!!!

Oops I did it again… I ran another marathon!!!

Every single time, before, during and after a marathon, you tell yourself “Never Again”, and every time you find yourself doing just that all over again. Cliche as it may sound, but it’s something a runner goes through every time.

So once again you find yourself at yet another star,t all set and ready to go (albeit a bit annoyed because the host was bit too loud and you don’t do Zumba as a warm up for a race). 

You have this quiet confidence in you that you’ve got though, trying not to think about the 42+ kms you need to run. You had a lot of positive learning from your run at Khadakwasla, the previous Sunday. Now it’s time to translate what you did there for the 25k, to the FM, just as coach Dan had instructed you.

For a change you are not anxious about cramping and all the aches and pains you will face during the run. These are distant thoughts in your head, for a change. The only thing that you are anxious about is if you would be able to keep up with Yogi and Ketak, running at their planned easy pace. But then Coach’s words come to mind that each one should run their own race according to the way they’ve trained, which meant that you would be behind and by yourself. You try hard not let these thoughts overwhelm you.

So there

you at yet another start line to yet another marathon, patiently waiting for the countdown to the start. The warm ups are done and the national anthem has been sung. Pictures have been clicked and the wishes have been wished. Now all that’s left to do is run.

Once the countdown is done there’s a flurry of fireworks lighting up the early morning sky. You start all your apps at the start line, quickly signing yourself, and off you go, trying to keep up with Yogi, Ketak and Manish.

You follow them for a kilometre or two before you decide that they a running at a pace faster than you could manage. Instinctively Coachs words come to mind that you need to run at a pace that’s comfortable to you, you need to run your own race at your own pace.

Slowly and steadily as you drop your pace they go ahead and disappear in the sea of  runners. You try not to get worked up as you by yourself even though there are others around you.

You let others pass you by as you continue to run steadily at a comfortable pace. You fight the urge to speed up and catch up with them. You just keep telling yourself “you’ve got this”. 

So there you are running mostly by yourself. There are a few runners around you but you are by yourself as you don’t know them and they keep to their run or their friends with them. It does feel lonely being all alone but that’s ok, that’s what running is about, it can be lonely when you don’t have friends around. At the same time it can be quite meditative cause it’s just you and the road. You have the river for company for most part of the route.

So you keep rolling by the river, up and over and under quite a lot of underpasses that are all colourfully lit and seem to have garba music on the speakers, to your amusement, making you wonder if you should run or start doing the garba, which actually puts a smile on your face. 

To your surprise you are actually not overthinking or getting all stressed out about any signs of the onset of cramps. You just smile and  continue to go up and down and over and under, by the river and then over it and onto the other side with your music and the river for company. 

For most part the route feels quite monotonous and kind of boring just a handful of people around to cheer you on, besides the volunteers. After running a challenging but amazingly beautiful route at Khadakwasla the week before this feels like a meh kind of route. Only shows that smaller event that managed by runners can always be better than the bigger ones.

You meet a few known faces along the way who enquire if you had a time you were looking to complete the marathon, to which you quip that you had no specific target time. The only thing you were targeting was to run the race without cramping.

So you continue to run steadily and in control, without giving in to the urge to speed up.

You cheer people you know as they pass you and you pass them making a runner ask you if you were local, to which you reply proudly with a smile  that you are a Mumbaikar.

By the time you reach the halfway mark the morning sun is out banishing the darkness of the early morning. It’s time to get out your pretty pink sunglasses that till now were on the top of your head. You glad that although the sun’s out the weather still had that coolness, what does get you annoyed that there’s no sign of the u-turn even though you have passed the halfway mark, and then a couple of kilometres. 

The route then takes a turn from the river and passes through fields and few houses. Finally at the 25th km you reach the u-turn. From here you decide to push your pace slowly and steadily as coach had instructed. Your legs feel good and strong and like you did the week before at Khadakwasla you can push yourself. 

So you run steady but quicker making up ground to the ones ahead of you, catching up to the ones who had overtaken you. 

You marvel at the fact that you are running swiftly and steadily and strongly tackling the underpasses with a sense of ease while others are huffing and puffing their way on the return. You are running with this smile on your face  and a quiet confidence in your heart, constantly telling yourself you’ve got this. 

You cheer your fellow runners as you pass them, applauding their effort, giving them a thumbs up as you pass them by. In your own way you try to boost their energy, giving some that you have.

By and by you reach the dreaded 32nd km, the one where many runners hit the fabled wall, the one you cramped really badly in Dubai and in all the marathons you have run (except for the one where you DNF or the one where you already cramped at the sea link). For change there’s no signs of any cramps. Your legs feel strong if not fresh and you are doing well and going strong.

You finally catch up to your buddy Manish who’s slowed due to cramps. You check on him before moving on with your run, going over and under every under pass you had previously passed. 

You run past traffic that has swelled thanks to one side of being cordoned off for the marathon runners. You dodge men on bikes trying to make their way to the grounds to join their friends for a  game of cricket. You even manage to catch the fag end of the half marathoners, something you’ve  never been able to do before.

As planned, at the 37th km take your final gel knowing you will need all the energy you can muster for this last few kms.

You pass Yogi and the 4:30 bus, cheering g them on as only you can do. In your head you know you are going to do better than what you did Dubai.

By now the sun is out and the weathers warmer than what it was. You feel yourself slowing down a bit as fatigue sets in, but thankfully there isn’t any signs of cramps or tightness. So you continue to push along, singing  to yourself your Dory song “Just keep running running, what do we do, we running running”, telling yourself “you’ve got this”.

By now you’ve caught up to a lot of the half marathoners, as well a the full ones. It’s time for that one final push. You take a sip of water and off you go. 

You no longer feel fresh and fatigue has set in. The sun’s out in all its glory making the weather warmer. You also encountering the end of the Half Marathoners which means you are dodging a through the crowd, weaving your way towards the finish line. Despite it all there’s no sign of fatigue and you running faster than when you started.

With one final push you make it across the finish line, finishing faster than when you started. You raise your hands triumphantly, pumping your fist as you let out a delighted scream. Although you didn’t manage to match your best time, but then that was never your goal, what you did do was run the best FM you had ever run. There was a lot of positive learnings from the race which you could carry forward in your prep and running TMM, giving you confidence that you could repeat what you did here again at TMM and try and do better. 

You stand patiently at the finish line waiting for Yogi to finish. You smile at runner runners finishing their runs, congratulating as they cross the finish line. Your burgers and fries calls you to see how you’ve done and you excitedly tell her all that you’ve done, like an excited golden retriever puppy.

You capture Yogis finish and you both proceed to join Ketak, who had finished ahead of you. You walk a while trying to loosen the tightened legs but then you are also socialising while doing so, clicking pics as you go. 

You collect your medal but decide to skip the breakfast and head back to the hotel and have good one there.

And just like that you’ve run your second marathon of the year, and your best ever marathon run. There’s a lot of positives but at the same time there’s a lot of lessons learnt on the importance of executing the race, something you know you’ll take with you to TMM. 

So you leave Ahemdabad with a happy heart and head held high and a feeling of confidence that marathon are not tough after all when you are well prepared for it.

Rolling down the river… I mean by the lake

When a runner chooses a race it’s either to get a podium or routes where you can achieve a PB (that’s Personal Best for my non-running friends). Since both don’t apply to you, you choose to do a race for the  experience.

Let’s face it, I don’t run that fast, so podium is obviously way out of the question, and then I am not that young to be chasing PBs achieved in earlier days (trying hard not to sound like a grandpa here). So when you run, you run more for the experience than anything else. And yes how much you can push yourself and see how well your training is coming along.

So when your burgers and fries suggests the Khadakwasla Ultra, you kind of jump at the chance, but with caution as you have a FM coming up in the immediate week. But when Coach says it ok to take it as a training run, then you go ahead and register for the 25k. And when coach too is joining you then it’s going an interesting road trip.

Races are always a good place to meet so many inspirations, especially race like these that are small and runners are well looked after and are  used by many as their training runs for their ultras. So you meet many runners using this as their last long run before their Border Ultra (one border you are sure going to keep away from).

So after a good night sleep (another first as this crazy soul is always needles and pins the night before), you wake up, dress up, lace up, and raring to go. But not before you do your warm up.

So you join your fellow runners who are doing the 25k (like you) or a 35k (like coach and your burgers and fries) in going through the motion. The 100k, 75k and 53k have already been flagged off (yes that’s what some of the runners were doing).

Once the warm up is done it’s time for the flag off with the 35k being flagged off first and then the 25k.  But runners will be runners  who are more bothered about the pre-race photo-ops than the actual instructions. So you had almost all the 25k runners starting off with the 35k runners. That leaves just you and few other runners (who like good bacchas paid heed to the instructions) who start off few minutes after the 35k runners have taken off.

So you start all your apps and you are off into the unknown, into the darkness, with just the moon for constant company, lighting your way.

You constantly fight the temptation of giving into the initial adrenaline rush and just speeding up, reminding yourself you need to take it easy and keep your pace below 7.

So you run by dark house with its occupants fast asleep, while dogs come barking to the gate. Then there are those who look up from their slumber to see who are these crazy people running at this ungodly hour, but then they are too sleepy do anything, so they return back to their slumber.

There’s a nip in the air, not too chilly that it would make you shiver, just right to have good run. Again you remind yourself that you need to control and take it easy.

The road for most part is good and you are glad you’re not dodging potholes which would have been difficult in the moonlight.

You steadily make your way past runners, letting the ones rushing pass you  go by. You slowly and steadily catch up with coach and your burger and fries, and glad to see them go steadily and surely.

So off you go on your own, along a few of your fellow runner, running by people all huddled up as they make their way to the temple of their morning prayers, while you run in your vest and your shortest shorts, flaunting your sexy legs (as Adi and Ritu call them). Surly you get those looks from people wondering if you don’t feel cold in what you are wearing. 

As you steadily run, trying to control your pace, you find yourself all alone with just a few runners here and there, and of course the moon and the road for company. Both there with you all the time. And you are grateful for their company as you follow them, or is it they following you. So when the road zigs, you zig, and when it zags you zag, while the moon goes from your left to the right and then to the left and back to the  right as the road zig-zags.

The air nice and crisp and the road is dotted with these beautiful orange wildflowers. Every now and then you get a smell of manure (it smell and not stench) as you pass houses with cattle shed.

Around the 8th km the lake finally comes insight, and there’s not much you can see in the darkness. You can make out the water and the dotted lights of the house in the distance.

You take this all in, after all you are here for the experience, and a bit of training. You try not to think too much or too ahead of yourself. You try to put a positive spin that every elevation will be a decline on your way back. You try not to bother about the elevation. After all a rolling route is way better than a flat one cause it keeps the run more interesting. Also for every incline, you can use the momentum to carry up the next one. So not much energy spent.

You try your best to smile for the shutterbugs on the route, after all you don’t want to look all frowny and grumpy in your pics, something you always end up doing.

By the time you reach the turnaround point for the 25k, dawn is gradually breaking with inky blackness slowly residing to a beautiful orange glow.

Now that the sun is up it’s time to put your pretty in pink neon glares on. Not that the sun is harsh, in fact the weather still has that coolness in the air, but then you want to make a style statement. So on comes the glares.

As you make your way back you pass a number of runners on their way. You cheer them on as only you can do cause every runners needs to be cheered on, and who knows your cheer can be the energy boost they need.

You see coach and your burgers and fries on the other side, so you stop to click them, as you said you would. After that it’s off on your way. 

By now you’ve found your rhythm, that comfortable pace that you have been steadily maintaining and building upon. You decide that your legs and body feel strong enough to push it gradually. Most importantly the rolling road doesn’t feel so daunting anymore (in fact it was never daunting). So you up your pace a bit, not trying to overdo it. 

You pass runners who were ahead of you, who are taking walk breaks on slopes. As you don’t feel the need to do the same as you have been handling the inclines pretty well, you continue to run, giving them a thumbs up and cheering them on.

By and by it’s just you and the road with the sun out to keep you company. Most of the runner doing 35k have passed you by in the other side and you have managed pass a fe runners who were ahead of you. You actually don’t mind being along in the road, cause somehow it feels quite soothing having yourself for company, and your music. So you continue to chug along at pretty neat pace with no signs of soreness and tightness or even muscle pain or fatigue or discomfort. So you are definitely doing something right, in line with what coach had instructed.

You even stop to click pics of the sun from the fields and while it lights up the road ahead.

 By now you’re quite comfortable at the pace you are running at. You even marvel st the fact that you manage to tackle the inclines, without getting overwhelmed by it. You pass runner who seem to be struggling with them while you, all fresh, steadily and comfortably handle those inclines (well not entirely comfortably as you feel a slight tightness in your quads). But on the whole you are running quite comfortably, running at a steady pace.

Finally you take the final right turn and you make your way up the gradual slope and to the finish line finishing quite strongly. 

As you cross that finish line, like all good runner me you first stop your watch and all the apps you had on  and then pose for pics at the finish line.

You make your way to the physio as you start to feel the strain on your right glute, for some much needed icing.

You then patiently wait for coach and burgers and fries to finish their run, hoping nothing untoward happened along the way, especially on the inclines and the rough patches. Hoping your burgers and fries didn’t get distracted with any of the kitties on the route.

You marvel at the fact that so many runners kept running beyond the finish line (often in circles) just to ensure they complete their mileage. Something only runners will do.

You are delighted to learn that your good friend Prabha secured a podium, and so happy and excited and proud for her.

By the time you you are all happy for Prabha, coach and burgers and fries make their way to the finish line and you like a happy holder retriever puppy (I’ve been told that I’m one) rush to cheer them and capture it. 

So you Hi Five coach and hug your burgers and fries checking if she is ok and then helping her to the recovery zone for her to ice her sore ankle and body.

After they collect their medals it’s picture time. But not before you refuel yourself with the breakfast. You congratulate all the podium finishers and then it’s actually picture time.

Once it’s time to make your way back to your room to make the trip back home. Surprisingly there’s no soreness whatsoever and so you are able to navigate the stairs easily cause that darn lift stopped working.

You are actually going to return back for a two hours Rueda class.

With that it’s another race in the bag but this one with a lot of good memories and most importantly lessons to take back and work on.  It’s a weekend well spent rolling down the river, I meant lake.

The girl with the paper cup

She held on to her daddies hand as they made their way from where their car was parked to the Main Street. Her daddy seemed all excited for what they were going to see. He made it known that one day he would like to try and do the same too.

She couldn’t understand what her daddy’e excitement was all about, but then she was quite little, and at her age you just go with the flow. So her daddy was excited and so was she.

As they made their way to the Main Street she could see quite a large crowd had gathered, cheering and clapping and holding banners. She could see a bunch of people running on the road, well if you could call it running. Many were slowly trudging along, some slowly walking, others trying to muster all that was left in them and jog, but all looked quite tired. There were people of all ages (except for little ones like her), of all genders and shapes and sizes. They were all running , walking or trying to run.

She was quite fascinated by this sight. Who were these people? What were they running from? What’s with the number that they were wearing across their chest?  She was fascinated by the colourful clothes that they wore, especially their shoes. She had never seen such colourful shoes before.

All this seemed so fascinating and new to her. She looked upon these people with wide eyes and couldn’t help but get caught up in all cheering.

She asked her daddy who were these people and what were they doing? Why were they all running and looked so tired? 

He daddy explained that they all were running a marathon, a 42km race. He proudly told her that next year he would be running here too.

His excitement was contagious and it caught on to her. Now she too wanted run marathon. Well maybe not next year with her daddy, but someday soon she would run one, though she didn’t quite really understand what a marathon was other than a bunch of people running with numbers pinned to their chest.

She saw a group of children who were handing glasses filled with water to these runners, who took the glass without stopping and threw it bin. 

She watched these children with fascination. She so wanted to do what they were doing, be a part of their excitement. So she rushed to them, eagerly grabbing the paper cup filled with water, all excited to be part of the fun.

She held out the glass of water in her outstretched hand hoping that someone would take it. She was so excited that she almost spilt the water all over herself.

Now since she was last child in line and her hands were little, even when they were outstretched, very few runners paid her any attention or tried to take the paper cup from her hand. But this didn’t deter her, this didn’t dampen her excitement. The water did, but her precious little heart was all beating with excitement as she watched the runners go by as she offered them a little respite from the arduous task they set upon themselves.

He had been running for hours by now, if not for hours, it definitely felt like that. And though he had been on his feet for a long, long time, he felt he was no close to the finish line than when he started. Or this was just his mind playing tricks on him.

Like all runners he cursed himself for putting his body through what he felt was worst than torture (again another one of his exaggeration). He promised himself never again, the last time he undertaken this Herculean mission, but yet he found himself at a start of yet another starting line putting his body through the wringer.

They say when the mind believes the body will follows, but in his case this wasn’t  true. He tried hard to will himself to move on, telling himself he didn’t come this far just to give up, but body seen respond like Christ before his crucifixion asking why had he forsaken them, what had done to him, how had they offended him for him to put them through all of us this.

Despite it all, he somehow found it in him to push on, one foot before another, one feet at a time, just to keep moving, cause there was no turning back.

His throat began to feel parched and there was no water in his bottle. This was probably the last straw that would break the camel’s back. And then he saw her, the little excited kid with this paper cup in her hand with the brightest smile. 

Other runners passed by her , failed to notice her, and took the water from other children, but this didn’t dampen her spirt. There was something precious about her.

He stopped near her and took the cup from her hand and eagerly drank the water. Her face lit up as she handed him the cup and then another and yet another. She was so excited to help.

As he gulped the water he felt a surge an energy course through his vein as if there was something in the water that revived his drooping spirit. 

She held out her hand to give him a hi five with the most biggest and brightest smile. He in turn returned the hi five and felt a renewed surge of energy.

Weariness replaced by determination to finish strongly. He was re-energised and ready to complete what he had set out to do.

He looked at her once again and smiled his brightest smile, mouthing a thank you, and off he went onwards towards the finish line.

She was all excited and happy with what had happened and ran happily to her daddy to tell him that but he already knew as he saw all what had happened. He took her in his arms and hugged her tight. He was so proud of his daughter.

That day a little paper cup not just came to a rescue of a weary soul but also filled the heart of a precious little soul with so much happiness.  There was certainly something magical in that water that the she held with love.

Blank Pages

He sat there staring at the blank page before him. The cursor flashing, beckoning to type something, to fill the page with his words. But what could he write about, he wondered. He tried to but he kept drawing a blank.

He wanted to write a classic. But most of the classics had already been written about. He didn’t want to retell something that had already been done before.

He could write about the life of others. But who would he write about? He didn’t think himself a biographer and then wouldn’t most famous people have their own biographers already?

He didn’t want to be inspired by the life of others cause where’s the creativity in that.

Plus he didn’t know anyone famous who would want him as their biographer, and as for the people he knew he would rather not be theirs. 

So there he was still staring at the blinking cursor on that blank page wondering what to write.

Was this how writers block felt like, he wondered.

Just when he thought there was no way he was coming up with something to write about, it struck him like a bolt, causing him to jump and exclaim in ecstasy.

Was this his eureka moment, or was he just having an orgasmic response to the thought that was running through his head.

No matter what it was, it was something he could do. He could fill those blank pages. He could write about himself.

No, he was as not being narcissistic, nor was his life boring, no matter what others had to say, or what he at times considered his life to be. He always believed that everyone had a story, this was his story, his story to tell.

There was so many anecdotes to share, and many more to come. A chance to fill up those blank pages with the stories he wanted to tell, to let people in, let them listen to the words that would otherwise remain unspoken. 

And he needn’t take inspiration from anyone, just live and do the things he did, and in the course filling his page with his story, not worried of what was to come. The present and past was what would written about while the future would remain unwritten.

And that would be his classic.

Heart and Soul

He sat there at the bar nursing his drink, keeping to himself, occasionally scanning the room, taking in all who were there, most of whom were the regular patron who had come there after a long day of work, trying their best to unwind over their drinks. A few had taken to the dance floor, showing off the moves they had learned.

He sat there, quietly with his drink, savouring every sip, minding his own business.

He could feel the eyes that were on him, the sly glances his way. He was an attractive man, even though he never agreed to this assessment. Although he was dressed casually, he was indeed one fine, rugged looking man. He could easily be a cover model of any of those romantic novels. But still he never thought of himself that way.

He was very aware that many of those eyes were quietly undressing him, wanting to take him to bed, wondering what he would be like in bed.

Though he never liked the attention, but secretly he savoured it. It felt good to be desired and know that none of  them could have him.

And just as he was lost in his thoughts, he saw a sight that literally snapped him out of his self-adulation and back down to earth.

Who was this magnificent creature, he wondered. They certainly wasn’t one of the regular patrons, or he would have known them.

He just couldn’t take his eyes off them like many of the others who were totally enamoured by them.

And though he tried to not to make it too obvious he couldn’t help be drawn towards them. It didn’t help that they sat right opposite him at the bar, right within his line of sight.

So he kept glancing in their direction diverting his gaze when his glances was caught.

Just as he felt like he was going to keep it all together a familiar tune began to play. 

He found himself walking towards them, like a moth drawn towards a flame, wanting to  ask them for a dance but somewhere scared that his request would be rejected.

To his surprise, they placed their hands in his and followed him to dance floor. 

He just couldn’t believe his luck. He was very aware that all eyes were on them, many of those were envious. He just didn’t care. He felt like the luckiest man in the room who had this beautiful person in his arms. Others would have given anything for just a chance but it was as him they had chosen to dance with.

As they danced to the music, he felt them come close to him, and hold him tight, to the point it felt like their two bodies were one, moving in unison to the music.

He could feel their breath upon his face. He felt the warmth of their body as they pressed it against his. He could feel the beating of their heart. 

Life couldn’t get any better than this.

He felt so attracted and drawn to them. He didn’t  know what got into him, he leaned in, half expecting his advance to be rebuffed, but he couldn’t help himself, he had to give it shot and pray it happened.

To his pleasant surprise, their lips met his, halfway. And then they kissed. Not a simple a peck, but a beautiful passionate one, right there on the dance floor.

They didn’t care that others were privy to their kiss, for them the world just faded away. It just two of them on the dance floor and the others faded away to the background.

He wished this kiss would go on, but then they broke the spell he was on. They looked coyly into his eyes and placed their head on his shoulder as they continued to dance.

They then whispered in his ears, “Just wanted you to know that I am married.“

“That’s ok”, he whispered back, “so am I,” he said with a smile.

“I wonder what my husband would say if he found about our kiss,” they said with a coy smile.

“I don’t think he would mind,” he said as they continued to dance.

“I wonder what would mine say,” he asked with a sly smile.

“Well”, they said glancing into his eyes, “ I think he would say, Happy Anniversary my love.” 

As he said this he leant in and kissed him passionately once again as they continued to dance, two handsome men in each others  arms, sharing a tender moment, celebrating their union, as the music continued to play -

“Heart and soul

I fell in love with you

Heart and soul

The way a fool would do Madly Yeah

Because you held me tight

And stole a kiss there in the night 

Heart and soul

I beg to be adored

Yes, and I lost control

And tumbled overboard Gladly

That magic night we kissed

There in the moon mist 

Oh, but your lips were thrilling

Never before were mine so

Strangely willing

Darling, and now I see

What one embrace can do

Come on and look at me

You've got me loving you Madly

That little kiss you stole

All my heart and soul”

Just around the corner

It’s just around the corner. Just one more turn and you’ll be there, he kept telling himself, trying to will himself to continue to move on.

But the corner passed and he was no closer to the end than he was an hour and a half ago when he told himself the same thing.

His feet complained. He’d been on them for far too long. They were now aching and protesting l.

He would feel the soreness of every inch of his being, even his soul. He could feel them complain threatening to just to give up on him.

By now he was all by himself. The ones who started with him had long gone ahead and he was left behind. In fact, he could see them on the other side of the route waving at him cheering on.

He felt disheartened and drained.

Even his mind began to play tricks on him, to question his sanity to undertake this arduous undertaking. Making him wonder what had gotten into him to even think he could do this. Making him wonder if he was going round in circles. Making wonder when would it all come to an end. Whether he should just give up.

But despite it all, in a little corner of his mind there was hope, trying to fan that small spark within him that kept spurring him on.

A little voice deep within telling him that he got this despite all his aches and pains and fatigue. Telling him, as cliched as it may sound, he didn’t come so far to just give up. He didn’t put all this effort just to quit before the finish.

He had come so far, he just couldn’t give up.

So he willed him to just keeping moving. And like Dory he sang to himself,

“Just keep running, running, what do we do we keep running!”

And lo and behold, when he turned that final corner the finish line came insight.

He spotted his friends and well wishers standing at the finish line cheering him on.

And so with one final push, he gave it all he could, and dashed across the line much to the delight of those gathered there.

He raised his arms in ecstasy, fell to his knees with tears streaming down his cheek glad that he didn’t give up when he felt like giving up, for believing that his destination was just around the corner, even when it was not.