07.31.05
Freedom for Elmo
There was a time in my life when Elmo ceased to be just the red muppet monster I saw as a child at Sesame Street.
When I first saw him out of the bag he was in upon delivery, he was like the newborn child whose sight most mommies attest made them forget the birthing pains they went through. In my case, I forgot how painful celebrating Valentine’s Day apart from someone so dear.
Whenever I heard good news about this someone, Elmo was with me, making out his famous wide smile as if he were also celebrating my joy. He was a constant companion in my waking hours and more so when I slept for he helped me weave dreams only the two of us knew.
But my happy times were not yet there to stay. When my optimism could no longer hold what I believed I could keep for life, Elmo was there as my comforter. His stuffed body helped stifle my cries. He dried up all the tears I could shed. But instead of giving him the credit, there was a long time in my life that I just let him sit at the foot of my bed. He was unhugged, uncared for, unnoticed. No matter how his woeful eyes stared at me, I never touched him.
Early this year though - four years after I got Elmo as a gift, I heard a news from his giver. He had come home. Not with his gf but with his two kids. Hearing him to have had a gf before left me undaunted but kids are little angels whom you could only give way in sweet surrender. And true enough, their little wings gave me the freedom I long prayed for. Freedom from a long lost love I tried holding on to. Freedom for Elmo from being the remembrance of a hurtful past.
Elmo is back to his old furry red self.
His orange nose, googly eyes, wide smile meant nothing more
but the muppet monster I saw as a child at Sesame Street.
I am back.
I am reborn.
In fact, I only look forward now for better days ahead.
I smile at the possibility of meeting someone far better than him.
I delight in the truth that life can always take us by surprise and in the hope that it can bring back in hundredfold the ones we lost.
I have talked too much. Must be due to my flu that has made me bed-bound for a day. Bed rest and Boys II Men is never a good combination. I wonder why they still play that on the radio.