The metaphors of life, what this man had understood about the passage of his own life, through the experiences, the trials in his life, the coming of age of a middle age man, translated…
I’d lived as a head of the household, in charge of a family of four of us, then, switched to my false-single status in Hong Kong. I’d collected the broken pieces of life, and put them back together like a puzzle. The new job, I’d gone to the various government agencies, and applied for a multitude of identification, finding a house, begging the bank to allow me to open up an account, soothing my family members’ emotions, switched from one discussion topic to the next on LINE and WhatsApp. Repeating the days, attempted to, surround myself with the fragmented pieces of life.
what you’d, started out with…photo from online…
Like putting together a puzzle. I’d needed to, slowly, manually, feel this current piece that I see, compare it with my past experiences, and pondered, whether or not I’d needed to, turn the puzzle in another way, or to, just SHOVE it in, then, hope that I can, manage to, piece it together into completed form.
Perhaps, this had, started back in college when I started dating a girl in the music major.
She was the high school classmate of my cram school friend from college. As I’d met her, I’d imagined, that she was the one who’d worn that white dress, swinging on the swings in the campus, the kind who’d gone to the cafeteria to eat, and knew well, which fork to use first.
As we’d gone strolling at the night markets, I was pulled along by her small hand, as we’d, wandered, aimlessly through the shops, I’d felt, that I was, blessed by Lady Luck. Then, we’d, strolled to the Renoir, that was a time when the chain stores wasn’t the thing. And so, as we were in awe, at how each piece of the puzzle fitted so perfectly around each other, we were also, blessed with the tales that the shop owners had behind the puzzles. Then, we’d, bought our very first puzzle together. A concert painted by Loup, 2,000 pieces, with the members of the audience, along with the musicians, waiting for a locksmith, to unlock the lock on the piano, so the concert can begin. In that era where there was no online friendships, we wouldn’t know how years later, the online community would comment, “a 500 piece puzzle is just right, 1,000 piece is exerting signs of self-torture, and 2,000 piece is close to…PSY~~CHO!!!”
we’re, almost there…photo from online…
Life is NOT just like a box of chocolate, like Forest Gump’s mom said, it’s also like a box of puzzle not yet put together. As we’d put the pieces together, we’d, doubt ourselves, if we’d, gotten the box with the pieces missing (then, it was proven, we were, so lucky after all), and, those from around us would start nagging, roll their eyes, rain on our parade, said we’re just, wasting time, and would, put their hands down on the puzzle we were working on said, “I got something else I need to do, you keep working on that!”
The development of my story was, it seemed, like after a good forty-nine years (or it’d felt like that long!!!) with my music major girlfriend, we’d finally, finished that very first puzzle together, and we’d, hung it next to the piano at our home. After all, we’d once, blindly decided, and truly believed, and in the end, we’d, managed, to finish this, difficult task, marriage, shouldn’t be, all that hard, should it?
and now, the completed…
photo from online…
And so, this is this man’s experience from falling in love with his wife, to marrying her, to starting a family, to weathering through all of life’s difficulties, hand-in-hand, and, that multiple thousand piece puzzle was a metaphor of the trials they’d come face to face with together in life, and, they’d still, managed to, finish it, and, there wasn’t any pieces missing now!!!
Life, the Obstacle Course 