Awkward consoler

“Maybe it’s time I changed my perfume.” The sound of M. seemed so deep on the phone yesterday. She was just stepping out of a break-up meeting and that’s what justified our almost one hour conversation on the phone. “It’s time to move on”.

Yeah, it’s time for you to change, M… but it isn’t the end of the world after all. You’re not going to die. You just have to face one of those days on which we wake up with those silly yet decisive resolutions… changing the ring tone of our mobile phone, the colours of its display screen, our look …. and … [yes I will admit] it’s one of those days on which, if it were possible, we would change our name, our job, our house, our neighbours, the road we take home, the sidewalks, the shopkeepers, the buildings that remind us of someone or sometime we no longer want to remember…

Stupidity exists in life M, and we can’t help it. Things don’t necessarily go the way we want and people don’t necessarily see things as valuable – or as possible – as they might seem to us. Sadness also exists. And seems like a river of which we all have to drink.

But M, listen to me. You need to be strong. You’re not dying. It’s just that life can be cruel sometimes. And that this time… [yes, I will admit again] life has betrayed you again, and you suddenly woke up from your beautiful dream to find yourself face to face with that harsh reality; you found yourself forced to read the last page of a book which you thought was much longer!

Well, I have to admit it now: As simple as it may seem, all my heart is with you M, because today time has simply come for you to change... your perfume.

I wish you good luck… and loads of courage.