Gained & Lost

Translated…

Many years ago, my old classmate spent eight million dollars and built a mansion on the mountains in Miaoli, and on Friday after work, I’d rushed to the place with my husband, to have a two and a half days together alone. In our latest class reunion, we couldn’t find a restaurant that’d allowed us to get loud that didn’t have a time slot, someone placed her mind on her property, “Hey, let’s head over to your honeymoon stay, we all bring one dish along, and we get to, stay up all night long, to catch up.” My classmate flashed a bitter smile, “You guys are a bit too late, my honeymoon stay was washed away by the landslide already.”

We were all very shocked, in a blink of an eye, eight million dollars, flushed, down the drains, and she’d not even, mentioned it to us. “What can I do about these natural disasters? Instead, I’m gladder, that I’d not needed to, take the long car drive up there anymore.” Seeing how it’d not affected her the least bit, but, that’s no small amount, everybody started, chiming in, she said, that on the night she was told of it, her heart got tied up in knots; she’d used webcam to tell her son the news, but her son had, beaten her to the punch, and told her of how they were pregnant first, and, all the miseries that’d bothered her from before, all gone, the homestay is gone, it’s just money, but now, she has a brand new grandchild, extremely, priceless, one gain, one loss, she’d still felt she was, more than blessed.

There was a friend that became unemployed and the doctors told him that he’d needed dialysis for the rest of his life too. he’d gone every Wednesday to the hospital, and each dialysis took about four hours, at first, his wife would sit by him and carry on in conversation, but after awhile she got bored, and, left him alone on his own. He’d become, very bored, and so, he’d taken along his son’s test books to read, to pass the time, and, he’d gotten, really into it, he’d taken the national exams, to test out the waters, he was just one point to being accepted, but he’d become, super excited, he was so surprised that his first try had gotten such high markings. He’d gotten a confident boost, and prepared to take the examinations again the following year, “Losing may not be losing at all.” the hospital became his lucky place, and he’d told everybody he’d bumped into, that he’d almost, found his second career opportunity.

And there was this female colleague of mine, we’d jokingly called her, “Madam Awards”. Although she’d had a ton of special talents, but, because she was lazy, she’d not become, productive, shortly after her retirement, her husband contracted something serious out of the blue, became bedridden, and she’d had to, look after him, and loving traveling from before, she’d changed her habits, and squeezed out some time every day to write, as an emotional outlet, these past two years, she’d submitted her writing to various writing competitions, and received a dozen awards, she’d gained her rep of “Madam Awards” that’s for sure. She’d made fun, that this is probably what’s meant by “When god closed a door on you, he’d definitely, open up a brand new window.”

We’re all willing to believe, that winning and losing come hand-in-hand, when you’re at your lowest, giving you, a HUGE surprise.

So, a loss is not naturally a loss, because for the long-term, it may be a gain, you just don’t know it yet, because you’re currently, trapped in the moment of what you’d lost, and, if you stay in your miseries, think of how many possible opportunities you’re going to miss out on?