Throwback: I Passed Time in the Hallway of Hallucination

I woke up with a good feeling this morning. The sun shone gently onto my face from behind the curtains. I smiled and turned over, too lazy to get up yet.

Strangely, I found another body in my bed. Getting up, I found the love of my life asleep next to me. I gazed at the golden band around my ring finger on the left hand. And then I looked back at the unfamiliar face on the pillow next to mine.

Somewhere along the way, those precious years seemed to have disappeared. Last night I fell asleep pining for a soulmate, a love that eluded me yet. And the morning dawned on a new life, and someone I'd never seen before.

Was it that all those years, I was so absorbed in the quest that I never saw the many soulmates that I passed by? Was it that I settled down with, and woke up next to, something I was still searching for?

I wondered whether I’d made a mistake. Was that why I failed to remember? Was it by some strange act of self defense that I refused to acknowledge that Life had happened to me? That I was older... and married?

Was it because the quest was more important to me than the actual destination? That the path was bigger than its end? Because every time the hunt was over and the target down, I'd lose interest and pick up the scent of some new, bigger game?

I walked to the window, and pulled the curtains apart. I looked down upon a city I'd never seen, somewhere I'd never been. This is my life now, I told myself. Never mind the missing years, I might as well learn to live it now.

That was this morning, and a lot has happened since. I'm back at the beginning of my quest, which is where I really belong. I've seen the things I've wished for come true, but I've also seen that I savour the chase, and the long journey into the sunset.