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It was her birthday today and I don't think I've ever seen anyone sadder. At least not for a birthday. You had to look very closely to notice she was sad. Some probably thought she was happy. After all, she was smiling and kissing and mumbling 'thank you' to all the well wishers. But I knew better. It's not that I'm so perceptive. It's just that I was standing next to her, watching her every move. During those fragments of seconds, the time that elapses from the fading of one smile to the appearance of the following, I could tell that she didn't feel like smiling, that she didn't want to produce the polite laughter after her boss commented that she's "30 years young today." I felt that she wanted to be in a different place, and most of all - different times. Times when she wasn't so lonely, times when she wasn't so bitter, times when she still believed in people, believed in her future and believed in herself. And I realized that. And I wanted to tell her, to whisper in her ear (after all - I was standing right next to her) that I know, sympathize and understand. But all I did was grab the paper plate that was handed to me, stuck the white plastic fork in the small piece of birthday cake, smiled and wished her 'Happy Birthday'. |
