The Promenade - IV

Chapter 6
Along the sea side

For the next half hour, we went to craft stores and roadside stalls.
My friend bought 2 pretty crochet lanterns for her home to be at Adelaide. I got a pretty lavender stoned "Neckley" (as the boy called it), bracelet and ear rings set at a great bargain. We walked along, took more photographs. Checked out more craft exhibitions.

We spent a while sitting in one of those beach side seat-enclaves and played around with shadows.

It was a pleasant time, when we didn't talk too much. Happy memories, and calm with the company.
They say you know you've got a real friend, when you can sit next to each other for a period of time, without talking, without feeling the need to and without feeling awkward at the silence.

I know we'd long since reached that level of comfort, but this was a nice moment- time, nevertheless.

When we felt fulfilled and ready to go (considering the 4 hr journey time ahead too ;)) we set off back to the bus station.


Chapter 7
Home Bound

We boarded the bus, armed with Pepsi and popcorn, so hunger pangs don't strike like in the morning.
We were both quite exhausted from the morning travel, and generally. We decided to be good children and take a nap. More experienced, we picked a better and more comfortable bus this time. And picked the side that faces the sea again.
Sleep came in pieces. Though, even when the eyes partially opened, there was a beautiful seaside with an orange sky draping it like a pretty veil. The tall trees, stone walls marking territories, small pathways, the sea through them, the occasional back water stretches, ponds with water lilies..all closed up for the night, beautiful holiday homes... sleep, dream and being awake happened, in mixed order, so much so that it was hard to keep track of what was happening, and too comfortable to want to bother.

I woke up after a bit, and found her peacefully listening to music. I decided to too.
I remember thinking that I should load some neutral un-mood-inducing music. I plugged in my ear phones anyway. Halfway into the song, I reached out for the pop corn, and that's when it happened.

Chapter 8
Chaos

The bus screeched to a halt.
People were hitting the side of the bus. There was yelling. Lights came on. Glaring head lights from various vehicles, facing random directions. Screaming and shouting.

I don't know if I'll ever forget what I saw next, though I don't think about it.
There was a man standing, and there was another man on the ground, in sitting position, leaning on the legs of the standing man. He looked like he was asleep.
There had been an accident, and the yelling and screaming, and bringing all the vehicles to a halt was mostly done by their friends.
We didn't get full details. We were hastily asked to close all windows, in case they started throwing stones.

My friend was scared they'd set fire to the bus, and she was halfway through calling a relative.
Technically I'm supposed to have been scared. At least a little. I still don't know if I was.

Our bus driver slowly inched forward, and zoomed ahead at the first sign of free space.

Chapter 9
Twilight

Wide awake after that encounter, we reviewed photographs taken. Ate popcorn (finally). And talked quietly in the dark. She told me about her fiance, about all their business plans together before they started their restaurant. We spoke about life. Why we're doing what we're doing now.
Transactional Analysis. Ideal careers.
It was as deep as it was refreshing.

The sky was lit up by lightning for the rest of the journey. Signs of distant rains. Added to the perfection of it all, like a big bang ending, the day deserved.

Not many people can completely understand or accept us. We, with our fast paced lives don't take time out to just talk about anything, and everything anymore. Dunno if it was one or the other. Maybe it was both.

This also seemed like the best time for our little interlude. When we're old enough to go off on our own, and young enough to not have too many responsibilities/ things to consider hampering our taking off on our own.

We realized that our interactions had become adult-like. But, with a trust founded in the youth of teenage. We've watched each grow from girls to young women. She noted more than once that in the 2 yrs she was away (at Australia) I'd grown from an absolute tomboy to a girly girl. Not so much in the way I dress, but in the way I carried myself. That's a nice thing :) While I did that, she found the love of her life, and they have an amazing fun-love filled relationship, so that's a nice thin too.

We just lay there talking, watching our lives from a distance. Till we eventually ended up at our destination.

We bid goodbyes and left :)

Epilogue

A Promenade is a leisurely walk taken in a park or a pretty place.

It's a time when you go out for a stroll, and talk in detail about something...anything...many things.

Our Promenade was beautiful.

I could have written a well rounded 10 chapters, I could have split it into a more holistic 5 parts instead of 4. But no, the point isn't striving for a perfection which sometimes is pointless. That day was fun. It was happy. It didn't change life. Nothing dramatic or melodramatic. It was just simple awesomely fabulous.

Our plans didn't span out as imagined. Our objective, or what we considered out objective (french food) was not met. Though we did go to Pondy. We had a brilliant time.

I've been looking for a purpose in life.
Dunno if this answers anything.
Dunno, if, once I find it, I'll be able to achieve it.
But, it's not always necessary to reach your objective to have crazy crazy fun!

I don't think life has perfect closures. I don't know if you find answers to the gazillion questions we seem to have all the time. I'm not sure if we'll find answers even to the top 10 questions.
Perfect house, perfect career, perfect spouse ... I dunno if any of those things exist.
But perfection exists.
It exists in the million little things that are all around us. We just need to take a better look, and notice it :)


So I'm gonna have fun, make memories, and laugh till I'm doubled over as much as I can, with as many people as I can!

Hope you find your moment of Funnestness !!

Au revoir :)