"How do you see yourself now?" the young girl asked.
I squinted my eyes in slits and looked at her. Trying to remember if I ever met her before.
"What do you need little girl? I have no time for childish games. Go away." I demanded with finality.
She smiled at me with evident sadness in her eyes. I don't know but I smiled unknowingly. My inner self is bugging me to smile back to assure her that everything's alright. I'm alright.
"You said before you want to grow up fast. Did time make it up to you?" she asked as if she's someone close to me who have witness the ups and downs of my not-so-promising life.
"I don't know. Like, yeah? I want to grow up fast when I was in your age. But as time goes by, I realized that everything is so much better when I was a kid. Before, I can be whoever I wanted to be." I said bitterly.
Her expression sadden.
"Aren't you someone you wanted to be now?" she asked again.
I kneeled in front of her to level our vision. Her eyes speaks of innocence and wishful thinking. The kind of perception I lost for so many years ago.
"I have so much lapses along the crossroads. I decided impulsively. I disappointed some people who matters to me. Life is not as good as I thought when I was a kid. I got lost. I forgot who I wanted to be." I answered with a lump in my throat.
Her hand reached for my face and equal the weight that only my eyes couldn't hide.
"Maybe your lost now, big lady. But I am here to tell you that you've been brave and you're braver everyday. You matured so much. You learned so much things. It's just you, being human. It's just you, who realized the truths of life. Time has changed you but your dream remains with you. You are brave." She uttered.
I recalled that my younger self has never held so much wisdom as she does now.
