One More Time

Time

"He is an extraordinary chef!"
"Mr. Walker really deserves his michelin star!"
"I had lunch at his restaurant, and I can say nothing can satisy me more than his cooking"
"This man, this beautiful man, he inspires people, not only the people he works with, but even the people who tastes his food will feel inspired. He is certainly born for this!"

Looking at these old articles, newspaper cuttings, photographs from when I was much younger. They do bring back memories. The memories of a man in his prime. The man who changed the world. I was too busy to realise that I was lost, in my own self. Lost in the maze that my brain created. I was too busy to realise that I'm not paying attention to what's happening around me. Time doesn't wait for anyone, it moves every second, moves further away from a particular moment in our life. As I go through these old memories of mine, I came across a picture that says a thousand words. It was after I received the call about my 2nd Michelin Star. In that picture I was hugging Juliette tight in my arms while tears running down my face. Tears of joy. 2 Michelin Star kind of tears. It was the best of times and sooner after that it became the worst of times.

I came home that night with Juliette all happy and delighted with our life right now. And that is when I turn on the television to the news of a terrible plane crash. A plane from the States to Paris. Everyone was shocked with the news that on the next day they were panicking with what was going on. Everyone was gutted. The following day, le Monde published their newspaper with a list of the people on board on the crashed plane. I thought I should just go through the list to see if anyone I know was on the plane. "Antonio Gussiete, Sharlene Sivakumar, Donald Harris, Lamar Johnson, Robert Por..., LAMAR?!"
I didn't know what to do. Every year I thought of going back to LA to check on everyone. But I always told myself "maybe next year". Now everything will never be the same. Juliette and I took the next flight back to LA. From the airport I went straight to Mr. Johnson's house. The old man is still there, surprised to see my face. "Oh Max, oh Max, oh Max" he held me and he cried. "He was on his way to see you, to congratulate you in person" I close my eyes and said "so it is true, it wasn't a dream. Lamar is really gone". At this moment, there's nothing to do but to let it out, let your true emotion out. There's nothing wrong with a man crying for the lost of a comrade. If only I didn't wait for another year. If only I priotize my friendship more than work. I would've got a chance to see Lamar and the man he has become. I failed to do so, and now I suffer the art of regret.

Juliette holds me every night, telling me many reason why I shouldn't give up despite what's going on in my life. She gives me light in the darkest hours. I can't imagine losing her. It's okay, trust me when I say this, I am now an old man in his 60s and Juliette is still here with me.

As I dig further down my memory lane, I found a letter, that was written by Lamar before he passed away.

"Dear Max,
You of all people should know how I hate flying, cause I'm simply afraid of what might happend when I'm on the plane. So this is a letter I wrote just in case shit happens hahaha.
My friend, I would like to congratulate you on 2nd star! I don't have to wait for the news to know that you received it. And man! I am a judge in the making! I'm waiting for the letter on my success in being a judge. Funny how I've always wanted to rob banks and shit and now I'm becoming a judge. Come back once in a while man, look after my old man for me would ya?
L. Johnson"
I remember crying. As I read this and holding the letter that says he is finally a judge. He did it, but he isn't here to celebrate.

There are things in life that we can't control. Life is fragile, but special at the same time. It is special because every life will come to an end. Our life is like an hour glass, every second that goes by we are getting closer to the end. We just have to make sure during our last few breaths, we can look back into our life and feel happy. I'm sure that Lamar had an amazing life. And so will all of us.