Sometimes to find joy and balance in the ordinary days of being a wife and mother, we need to rely on the energy we get from escapes.
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| The author likes to capture peaceful moments |
Luckily, the person who was willing to run away with me was a friend of the same taste. We don’t go to explore new destinations and routes; Not because of encounters and thrilling collision experiences, but on a journey to find a space, a space quiet enough to caress the deep inner self.
I’m a person who likes to walk, but after getting married and having children, I put aside all my habits and preferences for moving. I kept wandering around familiar streets. Early in the morning, I heard people’s voices on the side of the small market. In the afternoon, I briefly wondered where the train whistle on the station platform near my house would take the passengers. That’s it, that’s it. Until one day, when I read on a friend’s Facebook wall the sentence “I want to close my eyes and stand on a sunny hill to listen to the wind”, I realized that I also wanted to find peaceful private moments.
That’s right, as a woman, who doesn’t want to leisurely and relax; Who doesn’t love flowers and the feeling of being immersed in nature? However, for too long, we have been bound by the family kitchen; by the living, eating, studying, and sleeping schedules of her husband and children. It’s time to pack your backpack and… go into hiding.
Without waiting, right in the middle of the week, my friend and I gave the baby to my husband and invited each other up the mountain. We stayed in a homestay, a separate wooden house on the back of a hill. After handing over the keys, the homeowner left us comfortable in the wooden house with the wind blowing through the cracks.
Remember, on previous family trips, my husband’s “slogan” was always “traveling happily but ensuring safety”. To be safe, in addition to having enough money on the card, he also asked me to prepare thoroughly to avoid unfortunate risks for the children.
In a large suitcase, I packed clothes, shoes, hats, supplements, medicine, etc. Because my luggage was in disarray, every time I “docked” at the hotel or after each outing, I always lost quite a bit of money. Lots of time to search and rearrange furniture. Those constraints and complications unintentionally take away joy.
This time, the luggage I need to prepare the most is not the cosmetics, clothes or phone battery, but the mindset to go.
During my days in the village, I always waited for the moment to drive up the small slope protected by embossed concrete lines, turn off the engine, then step in and sit down on the porch of the homestay. There, the homeowner placed a long bamboo table and a few chairs with backrests. Between the two pillars is a louvered window, on which are placed a few ceramic vases with seasonal wildflowers. High in the sky are floating clouds, on the ground are bright yellow wild sunflowers stirring in the wind. You and I sat quietly, listening to our hearts sing.
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| Wooden house at the back of the hill |
It’s been a long time since I escaped the cage, so I’m not foolish enough to deny the feeling of freedom. Ignoring routine and the concept of time, I sat there: in the middle of a small bridge leading across two banks of a noisy stream; In the middle of the road, quietly sheltering under a large canopy of trees; In the grass field, purple-pink flowers are in bloom. I don’t need to tie my hair up or use makeup, I can apply makeup thanks to the bright sunlight.
The forest this season has a few scattered flowers. The mountains are light at first, then dark, and the mornings are often foggy, but my friends and I don’t linger too long at one viewpoint. We went downhill to the village. This place has few houses, but every family has a pond. They are not too big, the water surface shines the color of moss, sometimes full and sometimes shallow depending on the amount of rain falling from the mountains. Right next to the pond are pond bridges built from a few old boards. Not far away, a few guava, jackfruit, custard apple trees, young rice seedlings in the field, a cluster of vegetables in the corner of the garden, and vines on the fence on both sides of the entrance also appeared green. There were a few pigs roaming around, and a few ducks were digging their beaks into the wet corners of the garden looking for food.
That afternoon, we had a delicious meal made from corn, squash, snails and many wild vegetables. The pure taste reminds me of childhood memories. In the past, my mother and grandmother also cooked like that. Wild vegetables boil together with small shrimps and river fish, giving off a fragrant aroma.
In the evening, we bought a bottle of honey fermented from wild myrtle. When the dew began to drift into the house through the door, my friend pulled me out to sit at the bamboo table. You say you have to sit here, in a place with a wide view outside, to see the vast sky.
After drinking a few drinks, my friends and I started singing together. We chose a clean song; sometimes quiet and gentle. It’s been a long time since we’ve immersed ourselves in a melody. Are we really hiding or just looking? The next morning, is there anything busy waiting for us when we wake up in a far away place or do we just need to sit quietly in the sunlight of the porch to once again listen to the wind and the forest trees chattering?
As women, sometimes to find joy and balance in the normal days of being wives and mothers, we need to rely on the energy we get from escapes. That sounds funny at first, but it takes a few tries, right?
Dieu Thong
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