When Dreams are Calling (19 page)

31
A Knot, Some Words and We’re All Done

First
they were two: Adam and Eve,

Then,
she bit that apple and took a sick leave,

One
that will always in history remain,

As
the longest sick leave ever to blame.

From
the Garden of Eden they were thrown deep

Into
the Land of Reality to become the black sheep.

Surrounded
by fears, opponents, and rum,

Adam
decided there was nowhere to run.

And
so, in madness he went on to propose

And
as a sign of true love he gave her a rose.

Eve
did accept and showed her goodwill

By
giving him children instead of taking the pill.

But
one day, drunk, tired and covered in debt,

Adam
said to his soon to be engaged spoiled brat:

My
dear son, she might look slim,

Her
parents rich and her smile brim,

But
she might also not remain as such,

Will
you then wanna marry her that much?

If
you still do, and I hope you will

God
bless this old, wonderful thrill!

You
can love
someone in many ways, and tell them you love them in even more, but in
the end what
really matters is what your love means to them. Is it worth anything?
Does it make
them happy?

I always thought that to love and be loved back
is the ultimate
source of happiness and energy. Maybe it’s a naive and an old fashioned
way of
thinking and today's world is much more complicated than that.

But for me, his love will always
be what the peaks are to the
mountain, what the wings are to the butterfly, what the shade is to the
forest,
the water to the river, the sun to the day, the stars to the night, the
flowers
to the pasture, the words to the poem, the freedom to the
bird, the ashes
to Phoenix, the flamboyant colors to the rooster. It is Everything.

Between the Romanian Carpathian Mountains lies
Transylvania, the
land of medieval castles and painted monasteries, ancient caves and
salt mines,
tall peaks and deep valleys, steep gorges and glacial lakes, the land
of Vlad
the Impaler – Dracula, the “land beyond the forest.”

In Transylvania, time is frozen; the grass is
still cut with the
scythe and you can still see horse drawn carts with beautiful girls
giggling as
they sit on top of haystacks, and people wearing traditional costumes
each
Sunday morning on their way to church.

There, at the edge of an ancient forest,
surrounded by bushes of
wild blueberries, in the smell of pine trees, with me dressed in a
simple white
dress hand-embroidered with red cotton threads, wearing traditional
leather
sandals tied around my feet with a long, narrow strip and a wildflower
crown on
my head, Tomás and I said our vows. He was the best choice not in the
whole world,
but of my life.

“I cannot promise you I will love you forever
and ever. Eternity is
not ours to promise. But I do promise to love you each day I will tell
you
that.”

“Honesty! Let’s see if I can match that. I
cannot promise I will
make you happy. Happiness is a game of two. But I do promise I will try
harder
each day and if won’t succeed I will set you free.”

“Freedom! Hard one to beat! I promise to stand
by you in joy and
sorrow, because next to you, my nest is not a prison and I am not an
inmate,
but a happy traveler through life and marriage.”

“Commitment! The most difficult part for some,
easy when one has
you.
If in heaven He is our God, on Earth you are my Goddess.”

“Magic! It’s what makes a city like Paris from
grey to beautiful and
an evening on the grass watching the lights of tour Eiffel from
ordinary to
quite special. I promise to be by your side, to believe in your dreams
and
never doubt they will become reality.”

“Support! Without it, lust is in vain. I
promise to show you the
way, but let you find your own, to be shield and sword, your slave and
master,
your surgeon and healer.”

“Friendship! The most powerful bond! I promise
to always be myself:
a dictator with the face of an angel lecturing you whenever you will
make a
boo-boo just so I can make you a better man.”

“Genuineness! Where else you would like to go
when at home you can
be yourself? I promise to love you when you are mad and even more when
you
scream for more!”

“Lust! The spark that turns friendship into
love! I promise to love
you even more when the screaming part happens!”

“I love you because a woman like you leaves no
other option than to
love her.”

“And I love you because a man like you leaves
no other option than
to love him back.”

“I take you, Dora, as my wedded wife, and I
promise to love, honor,
and respect you; to be faithful to you; and not to forsake you until
death do
us part. So help me God, one in the Holy Trinity, and all the Saints.
Never be
less. Always flower. Always wild.”

“I take you, Tomás as my wedded husband, and I
promise to love, honor,
and respect you; to be faithful to you; and not to forsake you until
death do
us part. So help me God, one in the Holy Trinity, and all the Saints.”

“Amen!”

“Not amen, silly!
Amin
!
We’re in Romania! Let’s go have
lunch! These vows are making me hungry!”

“Yes, dear!”

“And then, I need a shag!”

“Yes, dear!”

“And a good night’s sleep!”

“Yes, dear!”

“Stop this
“yes, dear”
thing! Try the next one: I am sorry,
dear.”

“Yes, dear! I am sorry, dear!” he said and we
burst out laughing.

Dora’s
Journal Notes

• If you have to ask
  for love, you’d
  better look somewhere else.
  
• In a relationship,
  security without
  freedom values nothing, but freedom paired with security is everything.
  
• Where true love
  exists, marriage is
  optional.
  
• As lovers, not
  soldiers, we should do
  things out of love not out of duty.
  
• Life of a man: the
  wife is always right
  and when she’s not, his mother is.
  

32
One Question: Will You Pick Up When Your Dreams are Calling?

I
dream of flowers yellow and blue

Surrounding
a red house and a canoe,

With
parrots that squawk be it sunny or rain,

With
books in my hands picking my brain,

Making
a soup from my own veggie patch,

Writing
a tale about match and mismatch,

Travel
the seas and the world in between,

Touching
Antarctica and a croc’s skin.

Growing
older with him by my side,

Laughing
at my first Wonderland ride,

Listening
to his jokes always funny and true,

While
we keep philosophizing on what’s old and what’s
new.

We all start in
life with dreams. Most of us, on the way, give them up, temporarily or
permanently. We might call it reality check, but it could be just lack
of
faith, determination, or courage. We might come to terms with it and
see it as a
happy adjustment or we might always have a tear in our eyes and regard
it as a
painful failure.

But, there will always be some, who will
believe in their dreams and
will pursue them no matter what it would take. They will walk the way
from
impossible to possible, sometimes running, other times crawling, but
always
moving forward. God, fairies, witches will help them as long as they
will not
give up too soon or too easy. If, in the end, their dreams will not
come true,
it will be less important, because what truly matters is that they went
through
life smiling, in harmony with themselves, and not denying what they
are or what
they want. They gave themselves the chance and regrets will not haunt
their old
days.

“You’ve led quite an incredible life. Did you
ever have a moment
when you just wanted to make it simple for yourself, give up on your
dreams,
and just be content with what life throws at you?” Tomás asked me, on
our last
evening in Romania.

“No. For me, reaching for the sky is the only
way to find happiness
and be content. However, many times, frustrated, I’ve wondered why it
has to be
so goddamn complicated.”

“So what? You hoped the obstacles will get
tired of you and go away
before you’ll get tired of them?”

“Obstacles never go away. We just get more fit.
I think life is more
a sport of endurance than a sprint, don’t you think? If we don’t lose
focus sooner
or later, we all get there.”

“That’s a big
if.
It’s
easy to lose focus and turn around
when no one believes in your dreams.”

“But you believe in them. And it’s the only
thing that matters; the
only thing that can bring your forward or stop you in your tracks. You
must give
yourself a chance. Sometimes, the people close to us can be the
toughest
obstacles standing between us and our dreams. There will be times when
those
people will bluntly tell you to wake up and face the reality. And
that’s fine.
After all, it’s their experience, their belief, their approach to life.
We
should respect it and maybe consider it. But ultimately, the decision
should be
ours.”

“But what would you say to them? What did you
say to your parents?
I’m sure there were arguments.”

“My response would be simple: the only reality
I have to face is of
having dreams which ask to be fulfilled.”

“True.”

“It’s not easy. It took me years to learn to
take sole ownership of
my dreams. I see them as my children. No one can understand or love
them more
than I do. And no one will suffer more than I will if they won’t be
nurtured.  Every
person has their own dreams, their own children to foster. Asking them
to
understand and love mine, the same way I do, is like asking a
step-mother to care
for your children as much as you do. She can try and succeed to some
degree,
but the bond will never be the same.”

“True again.”

“I’m the master of my dreams, they give me
power and I give them
back faith. I create my dreams and they create my reality.”

“You are the master of your dreams…What was
your dream when you left Romania?”

“I had many dreams. Some were mine, others I
thought they were mine.
But one was above all. I wanted each day of my life to fall in love
with life.
That was my main goal, my most precious wish, my urge.”

“If I had a magic wand and I could fulfill you
one wish now which one
would it be?”

“One wish? That’s not difficult at all. I wish
to be granted more
wishes,” I said laughing.

“And I wish you wouldn’t be so greedy.”

“Now you are the one wasting your wishes.
Instead of wishing others
to be different, you’d better wish you’d be different.”

“Me? Different? But I love myself! The others
are the ones annoying!
I’m a poor soul misunderstood, mistreated…”

“Yah, yah, yah. I know. I feel the same way.
And I bet every other
person walking on this Earth feels the same at least once a day!” I
said
giving him a pat on the back.

“Maybe it’s time for an International Sorrow
day! But, be it: you
win. I will grant you all the wishes.”

“All of them?”

“I mean the ones that make sense.”

“Make sense to you or to me? Definitely it’s
time for an
International Be and Let be day!”

“You might not like it, but you are a lawyer.
You never give up, do
you?”

“I give up, but only if it makes sense. To me,
of course,” I said
laughing.

“Which never does!”

“Exactly my point!”

“C'mon, I wanna know. Open up!”

“There isn’t much to know really. My dreams
were always as simple
and humble, as complex and daring. I want to have a small house and a
big
garden. The house will be cozy and simple, full of colors and warmth, a
place
to rejoice, relax and dream. On the walls, I’ll have portraits bought
from my
trips all over the world. Each painting will have his own beautiful
story to
share for the ones with a big heart, an open mind and a free spirit.
The garden
will be full of flowers and veggies, with some chickens running around
chased
by a determined, horny rooster and two lovely dogs running after a lazy
cat, but
always coming back empty handed.”

“Can they be Border Collies?”

“What else?” I replied, smiling.

“We’ll start the day with a long breakfast on
the terrace, watching
the parrots chattering loudly about the last weather report brought by
a raven
from the neighboring kookaburra.”

“And I’ll earn my living writing about the
beauty of this universe,
the miracle of love, the power of dreams, the mystery of witchery and
the energy
of our thoughts. My books will make people smile and will give them
back the
confidence they have lost or the strength to do what deep in their
heart they
know has to be done.”

“What about me? Where do I fit in the picture?”

“You, my imperfect beautiful creature, will
travel the world with
me, from the Andes to the Amazon, along the Danube to the Rhine, from
Utah to Sedona.”

“That’s a busy adventurous life!”

“Plenty of time to rest afterwards!”

“You’d hope so!” 

“Are you in or out?”

“In! In! Take me in!” Tomás said sliding up his
hands beneath my
silk red blouse.

Then, a bit surprised, he went on:

“That’s my woman! You never wear a bra!”

“I live to challenge and be challenged, mister!”

“And I live to devour every single inch of you!”

A few months later, after Tomás moved to
Melbourne, we rented a
house, still unsure of where should we start our new life.
One day, Tomás said:

“It’s time for our first plunge together! Those
dreams we’ve talked
about in Paris are waiting! And you know what they say:
Do
not do to
others
what
you would not want them to do
to you
. You hate waiting!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s time for us to buy a
farm on Gold Coast, the place of
a thousand beaches and countless sunny days. Last weekend when we were
there,
we both loved it. You’ll start writing and I’ll have my own restaurant.
We’ll
be alright, mate!”

“Someone is fond of the Aussie slang! Deal!
We’ll paint it in tones
of white and blue of the Argentinean flag and red and yellow of the
Romanian
one. I mean, the house, not the restaurant. The restaurant will be your
place,
you can paint it in whatever colors you like.”

“The restaurant will be ours too, baby.
Everything will be ours, not
only mine. We’ll adopt two Border Collie puppies, welcome a stray
fluffy cat,
get introduced to the cockatoo population and wait impatiently to see
the
whereabouts of the possums family living in our roof.”

“I’ll finally have my own veggie patch and a
dozen books about how
and when to grow everything that can be grown, including eatable weeds.”

“Knowing you, now that your love affair with
law is all done and dusted,
that’s all you’ll study? Vegetables and eatable weeds?”

“I guess I could also study the types of
chickens yielding the most
number of eggs and how to distinguish a potent fierce rooster from a
less
endowed one. That will be fun! Next thing you’ll know, I’ll walk around
the
mall carrying a chicken in my arms, like Madam…”

“And her wild, crazy chicken, Loulou. But why
not? Never say never. As
long as you limit yourself to the study of the roosters’ population is
all fine
with me.”

“Even I have my limits, you know that.”

“Yes, the sky!” he laughed.

And so it was. We moved.

When we entered our Mudgeeraba property, on
Gold Coast, we felt a bit
like the royal couple entering one of their vast luxurious domains. The
only
difference was no one was applauding us, we didn’t have to wave
graciously to
every peasant smiling at us and there was no reception waiting at the
end. A
long winding driveway was showing us the way to a beautiful house
surrounded by
dense forest and palm trees.

“This is wonderful, Tomás! It’s the
whole aura of the place,
contemplative, tranquil, yet so joyful,” I said while my eyes were
streaming
with tears. This time, they were long due tears of happiness.

“It surely is. It’s as we’ve already done our
share of good deeds in
this world. Hey, look, you made a friend already!” he pointed to the
daring
kookaburra right behind me.

“Isn’t he something? They never come so close!
We’ll name him Fuzzy!”

And ever since that day, at four on the dot,
Fuzzy came by, ready to
be fed by hand with first quality beef mince. If I was late, he did not
seem to
mind, as long as I was coming well prepared.

I started to write each day about places,
people and dreams, about
the power of love and of our thoughts, about destiny, courage,
resilience and
confidence. For the first time in my life, I was doing something which
I loved
doing. It came naturally to me, it felt right, and it rewarded me each
day with
joy and hope.

I was not a famous lawyer, but an aspiring
writer, a gardener with a
chef by my side, traveling the world, having a small house, a big
garden, some
chicks and two loyal dogs to make it feel like home, and a fluffy cat
to amuse
us all.

And this made me happy. Because this was all
that mattered.

After extraordinary adventures and high
ambitions, I found happiness
with a regular guy, forging a simple life and dreaming of simple
pleasures.

I was finally at peace.

“Mom, this is a beautiful story!” Josephine, my
first daughter said
as soon as I closed the book.

“It is, my little princess. Now, the question
is what will
you
do when the dreams are calling. Will you pick up?”

“I will. I will always pick up!”