Of hundreds of meals enjoyed in my Park Avenue apartment, chow mein was my last. It was my $6 reward for having dragged, rolled and huffed another 60 pounds of my former life – the one I had before I decided to relocate to the UK – eight blocks to the donation bin at the local mission. I suppose I could've just used that $6 for a taxi, but then I wouldn't have gotten a fortune cookie out of it.
In the sole remaining chair in my apartment, I sat before the now empty Chinese takeaway carton, with a few more ibuprofren-enabled hours of lugging boxes ahead of me.
Tearing open the fortune cookie's clear plastic wrapper, I thought three things:
1) They don't even have these in China.
2) I hope this cookie isn't stale like the last one.
3) This fortune better say something good.
It read, "You will soon travel abroad."
Drawing a slow breath, I scanned the nearly empty space that was once my home. Assessing the final precarious tower of awkwardly packed boxes awaiting transportation, I couldn't help but feel that the cosmos hadn't been paying attention to my life plans at all. Incredulous, I responded as any exhausted Canadian might, after spending more than a grand and weeks of preparation to move overseas:
"Noooooo shit!" I yelled.
"No shit," my four walls echoed back. "Nooooo shhhhhhit."
16 comments:
oh my gosh. i love your life!!
Carmen - Wow, thanks! Maybe you can remind me of that when some of the going gets tough. :)
Appropo of nothing beyond me having terrible taste in movies, your above "going gets rough" comment makes me think of the Say Anything moment:
Diane: No one thinks it will work, do they?
Lloyd: No. You just described every great success story.
Failing big is still better than a lifetime spent succeeding in small ways. That's just - again quoting someone wiser - measuring out your life with coffee spoons.
Good Luck on your move!
Hey, fortune cookies are not above stating the obvious. ;-}
Classic! That your walls would echo, "No Shit!" Great story telling and good luck with your move.
see, you have taken this negatively. however, i would have quite enjoyed this. its an affirmation of your new life. enjoy it!
Pistols - If life is gonna remind me of TV and movies, I just hope they're ALL rom-com!
Raven - Thanks! I appreciate all I can get! I might even resort to summoning that weird "Lightworker" guy who commented on my 11:11 post. Can't hurt. Can it?
Wyliekat - This one is taped to my laptop currently, and the one about financial rewards...that's gotta be around here somewhere...
Adrienne - Thank YOU! And welcome here! I loved that my walls talked back to me on THIS, but i just hope they keep quiet about everything ELSE I did in there.
I am playing outside - Hey man, my walls were mouthier than I was. Talk to THEM.
Hey, at least the fortune cookie wasn't empty, or have a blank piece of paper. That happened to me simulatneously, and, getting the picture, I haven't opened one since! If I was getting ones like yours, I'd be ALL ABOUT IT! Have fun! :)
Kate - Oh, no way! That's hilarious! Maybe a blank fortune works in the same way as a blank Scrabble tile. Still, seeing it as you did, well, that makes the better story. :)
no SHIT!
NO shit!
So where are you traveling too?
Well, by the end of February, the United Kingdom. Woot!
i'm happy for you lady.
safe travels x
Thanks! I'm not gone yet, though! Not until the end of February...
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