THE ENCOUNTER

Did you ever wonder why we can live everywhere and anywhere yet we will always have one place that we call home, where we truly belong?

It was this idea and many more that made me buy a ticket, get on a plane and find my way back home this Christmas.

Oh, how I missed that fresh winter breeze, those falling leaves and frost bites. The sound of birds chirping on the tree next to my bedroom window every morning. How I longed and missed the hug of someone close and someone dear, of someone that I call family.

And now, while I stand still, hearing nothing but the sound of my bag gently rolling on the harsh stone pavement, I realize I am finally here. I am finally home.

Looking at those stones, the triple arches highlighting the second-floor terrace, and that majestic blue wooden door that decorates the façade of my Lebanese house in the mountains makes my heart skip a beat and makes all those memories that I once shared with my sister come back to life.

As I reached slowly for the key to open the house, a sudden sense of relief filled my existence. It was that feeling way down when you truly realize that you came back to where you truly belong. And then, when I opened the door I could see nothing but darkness all around until I made my way to the table lamp that my grandmother used to love. It was at that point that a sudden light filled the room and my heart.

While I hanged my scarf and went back to get my bag. I could not but stop to reminisce in this corridor that I once use to cross as a little girl holding hands with my sisters, laughing and jiggling while my grandma used to yell at us and tells us to be careful with here dear accessories that decorated the entrance hall. And now as I gently pass my hand on the frame in the corridor all those memories came rushing back. It wasn’t until I came across the plates that stood on the wall as an homage of my grandmother highlighting her design selection throughout the years that she lived that I stopped in my place unable to move.

What memories does this house hold and what great joy it brought to my heart to be back. These were the thoughts running through my mind as I prepared a cup of tea and made my way outside to await the arrival of my sister.

As I sat there glazing and wondering at the cloudy skies, as rain drops faded even before they hit the ground.  I still wasn’t able to fully grasp the reality. Am I dreaming? is this all fake? Am I really home or is this a déjà vu?

And then, from a distant I heard the sound of a car pulling up to the driveway. And when the door opened. She was there.

Leila Miled